Yantar to be heart of Russia’s new shipbuilding cluster

Mr Tutynin said: “We hope that after the modernisation of production and its expansion, the new cluster will have the capacity to build six to eight ships and vessels of various types per year”.

Meanwhile, plans are to double the capacity of the newly-established cluster between 2018 and 2020. The new cluster is to concentrate on commercial ships, demand for which is expected to increase as warship production declines.

The new cluster will specialise in the production of a wide range of ships, including large ferries, offshore support vessels and several other types.

Analysts at the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade believe that the ships to be built at the Kaliningrad shipyard will be able to compete with foreign equivalents in terms of price and quality.

According to Mr Tutynin, the new cluster has contracts for two high-tech mid-size fishing vessels to be built in 2015.

Total volume of investments in the project is estimated at RUB17 billion (US$500 million), the majority of which will be provided from the federal budget.

It is reported that Yantar’s management has already started recruiting skilled personnel for the new cluster from Russia’s leading technical universities.