Russia to speed building of super-shipyard

The yard will be located in Primorye (in the Russian Far East) and will be the largest shipyard in the country. Pressure from the country’s oil and gas industry has led the government to state that the shipyard should be built by 2018, rather than the original 2021 deadline.

According to Yuri Filchenok, deputy general director of production of the Far Eastern Center of Shipbuilding and Ship Repair (FECSR), the 2018 completion date will allow the yard to better meet the needs of oil and gas producers including Rosneft, Gazprom, Novotek and Yamal LNG. These companies will need construction of ships and facilities to start as early as 2015 in order to achieve commissioning in 2018 to 2020.

On completion, Zvezda will become the largest shipyard in Russia, and will augment the national shipbuilding industry by some 30%. The project is expected to attract leading design bureaus from St. Petersburg, Moscow , Europe and the US as well as leading shipbuilding corporations from Southeast Asia, in particular from Korea.

The first stage of the shipyard project will handle vessels up to 250m length and displacement of 30,000t. The completed yard will have capabilities for building tankers up to 350,000dwt, gas carriers, ice-class vessels, specialized ships, offshore platform components and other marine equipment.

According to FECSR, another reason for the acceleration of construction is the decision of Gazprombank, one of the members of the consortium which manages the project, to provide a loan of value about RUB 8 billion (USD$240 million).

Nadezhda Malysheva, a senior analyst of Port News agency, one of Russia’s leading analyst agencies in the field of port business, said that so far, a shortage of funds has delayed the implementation of the project. However there is a possibility that much can change in the near future and the project will be implemented more quickly. The decision to establish a consortium has proved a success among the various participants. The driving force is Rosneft, with Gazprombank providing the necessary funding.