In 1855, the English photographer Roger Fenton took these photographs of what the invading British Army called Cossack Bay, at Balaclava, during the Crimean War (in Russian, the Oriental War).
By John Helmer in Moscow
Russia’s Transport Minister Igor Levitin reported a huge number last month, which, if true, would mean that Russian shipbuilding is booming, and the yards will be full to overflowing for the decade to come.
At the last session of the Maritime Board, a policymaking committee of the Transport Ministry, Levitin announced that the order-book to the year 2020 for new vessels to be built at the domestic shipyards numbers two thousand, with the price-tag on the contracts totaling Rb1.5 trillion ($33 billion). Levitin’s claim appeared in Interfax and other media reports on March 30. It accompanied draft legislation for state budget support for the shipyards and shipbuilders, which has been drafted for the review of the Prime Ministry, before it goes to the State Duma for a vote.
Alexei Bezborodov, who heads Infranews, a leading Moscow maritime news service, told Fairplay the minister is exaggerating wildly. According to Bezborodov, just 120 vessels are currently contracted with 23 shipyards in Russia, with a delivery period of up to three years. Bezborodov’s tabulation of these orders is presented below. “Planning horizons for shipbuilding of more than three years don’t happen,” Bezborodov said, noting that total deadweight tonnage on order in the Russian yards at present is 981,000 dwt.
Russian shipyard construction capacity has reached its limit, and without fresh investment in manufacturing and technology, as well as confirmed orders for new ships, the yards cannot readily exceed this level, Bezborodov adds. “So, to fulfil the precepts of the Ministry of Transport, we need to triple current yard capacity — impossible!”
The Transport Ministry spokesman, Lyubov Britvina, was asked to confirm whether Levitin had been correctly quoted. She replied: “Two thousand ships is the planned number to be produced over the course of ten years; it includes civil ships, for example those used for fishing, research, servicing the needs of oil companies, etc.”
Vladimir Vityazev, a specialist at Zvyozdochka, the Star ship-repair works in Severodvinsk, told Fairplay that the current limitations on vessel size and yard capacity will not change in the short run. “The most advanced shipyard in Russia is the Admiralty Yards in St. Petersburg and the Northern Yard, also in St. Petersburg. A new shipbuilding area is under construction in the Far East. But even the major shipyards cannot produce a tanker of a large deadweight. So when Gazprom orders big tankers abroad, this is because they cannot order a similar ship here in Russia. They do, however, order smaller, specialized ships. For example, they placed an order at our shipyard for construction of a drifting drill platform.”
When Prime Minister Vladimir Putin discussed shipbuilding with Roman Trotsenko on February 18, the prospects for the Russian yards were optimistic, but the numbers modest. Trotsenko is a millionaire developer of commercial real estate and airports, and owner of the Moscow River Shipping Company. He was appointed to run the state-owned United Shipbuilding Corporation ( USC) after Alexander Buzakov was ousted late last year: http://johnhelmer.org/?p=2032
In Putin’s office in February, what Trotsenko had to boast about was, in retrospect, to Buzakov’s credit. Trotsenko told Putin: “I don’t think any sector has come in for so much attention on the part of the government in 2009 as shipbuilding. The five conferences that you presided over have yielded results. We see that the industry reported a 62% growth in 2009. There are several reasons for this growth, for example, several large vessels and drilling platforms were completed as scheduled. Nevertheless, this figure does give an idea of the potential for this sector to drive growth in the engineering industry in the future.” Trotsenko went on with his calculation of the shipyard order-book: “We have 118 ships and vessels in the works. The volume of USC’s foreign trade alone is $7.5 billion. December saw the signing of major contracts with Vietnam and Kuwait worth over $2.5 billion, which loads the capacity at the Admiralty Shipyards and the Khabarovsk Shipbuilding Plant.”
Among the financial measures discussed, Trotsenko said about Rb4 billion ($133 million) has been issued through USC to finance shipbuilding lease contracts on condition that the vessels have 60% Russian content, and are Russian flagged. Another Rb2.7 billion is budgeted for the leasing programme this year. New measures for tax and customs duty relief in shipbuilding zones are included in the draft legislation Levitin has introduced. They will cover new yard projects in the Far East; the Yantar yard in Kaliningrad; and a new southern shipbuilding zone on the Caspian.
Things would be much better, and the order-book fuller, Trotsenko told Putin, if Gazprom hadn’t postponed the Shtokman gasfield project in the Arctic, thereby delaying the order to build new gas tankers and drilling platforms at South Korean and Singaporean joint ventures at the new Chazhma Bay yard, on the Sea of Japan, and also at the Zvezda yard at nearby Bolshoy Kamen.
“I have to say that postponing the Shtokman field development by three years was bound to influence the business plans for the joint venture with Korea,” Trotsenko told Putin. “This naturally results in a delay in the building of gas tankers. We ask you to make a decision to optimize offshore development on condition that offshore fields are given to Russian companies which will order Russian ships and equipment.”
Putin agreed, but issued the qualification that has been killing the Russian shipyards since the collapse of the Soviet Union: “We will do it, but this work must be coordinated with sales volume, and the willingness of the market to absorb these volumes.”
RUSSIAN SHIPYARD ORDER-BOOK FOR THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE
| Customer |
Dwt |
GT |
Type of ship |
Engine |
Commission date |
|
Astrakhan ship-building factory |
|||||
|
Euromaritime Trading BV |
0 |
0 |
Combined river class |
Caterpillar |
2010-00 |
|
maXXL Shipping BV |
3400 |
3040 |
Tanker (oil products, chemicals) |
Wartsila |
2010-00 |
|
Rensen Scheepvaartbedrijf BV |
0 |
0 |
River-sea tanker |
|
2010-06 |
|
Svithoid Tankers AB |
3400 |
3040 |
Tanker (oil products, chemicals) |
Wartsila |
2010-00 |
|
Admiralty yards |
|
||||
|
Institute of the Arctic and the Antarctic |
12000 |
7000 |
Non-cargo ship |
|
2011-09 |
|
SOVCOMFLOT |
70000 |
49069 |
Tanker (oil) |
Wartsila |
2010-04 |
|
Amur factory |
|||||
|
Mega Tankers Pte Ltd |
19800 |
12000 |
Tanker (oil products, chemicals) |
MAN-B&W |
2010-00 |
|
Mega Tankers Pte Ltd |
19800 |
12000 |
Tanker (oil products, chemicals) |
MAN-B&W |
2010-00 |
|
Mega Tankers Pte Ltd |
19800 |
12000 |
Tanker (oil products, chemicals) |
MAN-B&W |
2010-00 |
|
Mega Tankers Pte Ltd |
19800 |
12000 |
Tanker (oil products, chemicals) |
MAN-B&W |
2010-00 |
|
Chkalovsky ship-building factory |
|
||||
|
Owner Unknown |
0 |
0 |
River-sea tanker |
Caterpillar |
2009-11 |
|
Gorodetsky ship-building factory |
|||||
|
Owner Unknown |
6500 |
0 |
River-sea tanker |
|
2009-12 |
|
Intro Pella |
|||||
|
Basica Puerto de Moa |
136 |
451 |
Towing ship |
Caterpillar |
2010-01 |
|
Owner Unknown |
0 |
278 |
Towing ship |
Caterpillar |
2010-10 |
|
Owner Unknown |
0 |
278 |
Towing ship |
Caterpillar |
2010-10 |
|
SOVCOMFLOT |
136 |
451 |
Towing ship |
Caterpillar |
2010-10 |
|
SOVCOMFLOT |
136 |
451 |
Towing ship |
Caterpillar |
2010-11 |
|
Kamsky ship-building factory, Perm |
|||||
|
Silvinit JSC |
6826 |
5172 |
Break-bulk |
Wartsila |
2009-00 |
|
Ukrvodshliah |
0 |
837 |
Towing ship |
CKD |
1990-01 |
|
Khabarovsk ship-building factory |
|||||
|
Owner Unknown |
744 |
1303 |
Trawler |
|
2009-09 |
|
Krasnaya kuznitsa, Arkhangelsk |
|||||
|
FOR SALE |
0 |
60 |
Non-cargo ship |
|
2009-00 |
|
Owner Unknown |
379 |
402 |
Non-cargo ship |
Daldizel |
2009-00 |
|
Krasnoye Sormovo, Nizhny Novgorod |
|||||
|
Kazmortransflot JSC |
12740 |
7848 |
Tanker (oil) |
Wartsila |
2010-05 |
|
Kazmortransflot JSC |
12740 |
7848 |
Tanker (oil) |
Wartsila |
2010-07 |
|
Owner Unknown |
13000 |
7800 |
Tanker (oil) |
Wartsila |
2009-12 |
|
Palmali Shipping Services |
7008 |
4700 |
Tanker (oil) |
|
2009-08 |
|
Palmali Shipping Services |
7008 |
4700 |
Tanker (oil) |
|
2009-10 |
|
Palmali Shipping Services |
7008 |
4700 |
Tanker (oil) |
|
2009-12 |
|
Prime Shipping Ltd |
5600 |
4378 |
Tanker (oil) |
Wartsila |
2010-06 |
|
Prime Shipping Ltd |
5600 |
4378 |
Tanker (oil) |
Wartsila |
2010-09 |
|
Prime Shipping Ltd |
5600 |
4378 |
Tanker (oil) |
Wartsila |
2010-12 |
|
Safinat JSC |
13030 |
7833 |
Tanker (oil) |
|
2009-06 |
|
Nevsky ship-building factory, Schlisselburg |
|||||
|
Bergen Tankers AS |
850 |
499 |
Non-cargo ship cont./ |
Mitsubishi |
2009-00 |
|
Bergen Tankers AS |
850 |
499 |
Non-cargo ship cont./ |
Mitsubishi |
2009-00 |
|
Russian Ministry of Transport |
1215 |
2634 |
Non-cargo ship |
Wartsila |
2010-11 |
|
Navashinsky ship-building factory, Oka |
|||||
|
AET Inc Ltd |
7094 |
4740 |
Tanker (oil products, chemicals) |
Cummins |
2009-11 |
|
AET Inc Ltd |
7094 |
4740 |
Tanker (oil products, chemicals) |
Cummins |
2009-12 |
|
AET Inc Ltd |
7094 |
5723 |
Tanker (oil products, chemicals) |
Cummins |
2010-05 |
|
Volga Shipping JSC |
5458 |
4000 |
Break-bulk |
|
2011-00 |
|
Volga Shipping JSC |
5458 |
4000 |
Break-bulk |
|
2011-00 |
|
Volga Shipping JSC |
5458 |
4000 |
Break-bulk |
|
2011-00 |
|
Volga Shipping JSC |
5458 |
4000 |
Break-bulk |
|
2011-00 |
|
Volga Shipping JSC |
5458 |
4000 |
Break-bulk |
|
2011-00 |
|
Volga Shipping JSC |
5458 |
4000 |
Break-bulk |
|
2012-00 |
|
Volga Shipping JSC |
5458 |
4000 |
Break-bulk |
|
2012-00 |
|
Volga Shipping JSC |
5458 |
4000 |
Break-bulk |
|
2012-00 |
|
Volga Shipping JSC |
5458 |
4000 |
Break-bulk |
|
2012-00 |
|
Volga Shipping JSC |
5458 |
4000 |
Break-bulk |
|
2012-00 |
|
Onega, Petrozavodsk |
|||||
|
Orion Shipping Co |
4570 |
2989 |
Break-bulk |
Wartsila |
2010-12 |
|
Owner Unknown |
4570 |
2989 |
Break-bulk |
Wartsila |
2009-12 |
|
Owner Unknown |
4570 |
2989 |
Break-bulk |
Wartsila |
2009-12 |
|
Owner Unknown |
4560 |
2989 |
Break-bulk |
Wartsila |
2010-12 |
|
Owner Unknown |
4560 |
2989 |
Break-bulk |
Wartsila |
2010-12 |
|
Owner Unknown |
4560 |
2989 |
Break-bulk |
Wartsila |
2010-12 |
|
Owner Unknown |
4560 |
2989 |
Break-bulk |
Wartsila |
2010-12 |
|
Owner Unknown |
4560 |
2989 |
Break-bulk |
Wartsila |
2011-12 |
|
Owner Unknown |
4560 |
2989 |
Break-bulk |
Wartsila |
2011-12 |
|
Owner Unknown |
4560 |
2989 |
Break-bulk |
Wartsila |
2011-12 |
|
Owner Unknown |
4560 |
2989 |
Break-bulk |
Wartsila |
2011-12 |
|
Owner Unknown |
4560 |
2989 |
Break-bulk |
Wartsila |
2012-12 |
|
White Sea – Onega Shipping |
5467 |
4182 |
Break-bulk |
Wartsila |
2009-08 |
|
Northern yards |
|||||
|
Meling & Co AS |
3350 |
2603 |
Supply vessel |
MaK |
2009-10 |
|
Troms Offshore AS |
4900 |
4260 |
Supply vessel |
Caterpillar |
2010-12 |
|
Sevmash |
|||||
|
FOR SALE |
0 |
100 |
Towing ship |
|
2009-00 |
|
FOR SALE |
45000 |
28000 |
Tanker (oil products, chemicals) |
MAN-B&W |
2009-00 |
|
FOR SALE |
45000 |
28000 |
Tanker (oil products, chemicals) |
MAN-B&W |
2009-00 |
|
FOR SALE |
45000 |
28000 |
Tanker (oil products, chemicals) |
MAN-B&W |
2009-00 |
|
FOR SALE |
45000 |
28000 |
Tanker (oil products, chemicals) |
MAN-B&W |
2009-10 |
|
FOR SALE |
0 |
200 |
Non-cargo ship |
Caterpillar |
2009-12 |
|
FOR SALE |
45000 |
28000 |
Tanker (oil products, chemicals) |
MAN-B&W |
2009-12 |
|
FOR SALE |
45000 |
28000 |
Tanker (oil products, chemicals) |
MAN-B&W |
2010-06 |
|
FOR SALE |
45000 |
28000 |
Tanker (oil products, chemicals) |
MAN-B&W |
2010-10 |
|
FOR SALE |
45000 |
28000 |
Tanker (oil products, chemicals) |
MAN-B&W |
2011-06 |
|
Julesburg Corp |
190 |
0 |
Non Merchant Ships |
M.T.U. |
2010-08 |
|
O’Neil Assets Corp |
0 |
1100 |
Non Merchant Ships |
M.T.U. |
2011-07 |
|
Owner Unknown |
0 |
36 |
Towing ship |
Caterpillar |
2009-09 |
|
Owner Unknown |
45000 |
28000 |
Tanker (oil products, chemicals) |
MAN-B&W |
2011-10 |
|
SAIPEM SpA |
14508 |
54000 |
Non Ship Structures |
Non-Propelled |
2009-12 |
|
SeaDragon Offshore Ltd |
14508 |
54000 |
Non Ship Structures |
Bergens |
2010-12 |
|
Unknown |
0 |
200 |
Non-cargo ship |
Caterpillar |
2009-09 |
|
Sosnovsky ship-building factory, Kirov region |
|||||
|
Owner Unknown |
30 |
117 |
Trawler |
|
2009-00 |
|
Owner Unknown |
35 |
145 |
Trawler |
|
2009-00 |
|
Ministry of Transport |
280 |
500 |
Ro-Ro Cargo |
|
2010-00 |
|
Ministry of Transport |
280 |
500 |
Ro-Ro Cargo |
|
2010-00 |
|
Ministry of Transport |
280 |
500 |
Ro-Ro Cargo |
|
2011-00 |
|
Ministry of Transport |
280 |
500 |
Ro-Ro Cargo |
|
2011-00 |
|
Unknown |
30 |
117 |
Trawler |
|
2009-00 |
|
Srednenevsky ship-building factory |
|||||
|
Owner Unknown |
84 |
150 |
Passenger |
|
2009-00 |
|
Volgogradsky ship-building factory |
|||||
|
Palmali Shipping Services |
7008 |
4681 |
Tanker (oil) |
Wartsila |
2011-08 |
|
Palmali Shipping Services |
7008 |
4681 |
Tanker (oil) |
Wartsila |
2011-10 |
|
Palmali Shipping Services |
7008 |
4681 |
Tanker (oil) |
Wartsila |
2011-12 |
|
Palmali Shipping Services |
7008 |
4681 |
Tanker (oil) |
Wartsila |
2012-02 |
|
Palmali Shipping Services |
7008 |
4681 |
Tanker (oil) |
Wartsila |
2012-04 |
|
Palmali Shipping Services |
7008 |
4681 |
Tanker (oil) |
Wartsila |
2012-06 |
|
Palmali Shipping Services |
7008 |
4681 |
Tanker (oil) |
Wartsila |
2012-08 |
|
Palmali Shipping Services |
7008 |
4681 |
Tanker (oil) |
Wartsila |
2012-10 |
|
Palmali Shipping Services |
7008 |
4681 |
Tanker (oil) |
Wartsila |
2012-12 |
|
Palmali Shipping Services |
7008 |
4681 |
Tanker (oil) |
Wartsila |
2013-00 |
|
Volgograd Shipbuilding Plant |
4450 |
3470 |
Tanker (oil products, chemicals) |
Wartsila |
2009-12 |
|
Volgograd Shipbuilding Plant |
4450 |
3470 |
Tanker (oil products, chemicals) |
Wartsila |
2010-06 |
|
Vyborgsky ship-building factory |
|||||
|
SeaDragon Offshore Ltd |
0 |
35000 |
Platform |
Bergens |
2011-06 |
|
Yantar |
|||||
|
BARD Engineering GmbH |
0 |
250 |
Non-cargo ship |
|
2010-01 |
|
Coast Guard RF |
134 |
1300 |
Non-cargo ship |
M.T.U. |
2009-12 |
|
Owner Unknown |
12500 |
10040 |
Break-bulk |
MAN-B&W |
2009-00 |
|
Owner Unknown |
12500 |
10040 |
Break-bulk |
MAN-B&W |
2009-00 |
|
Owner Unknown |
327 |
584 |
Towing ship |
Caterpillar |
2010-00 |
|
Yaroslavsky ship-building factory |
|||||
|
FOR SALE |
960 |
1430 |
Supply vessel |
Caterpillar |
2010-10 |
|
FOR SALE |
960 |
1430 |
Supply vessel |
Caterpillar |
2010-12 |
|
Mathisen T |
500 |
499 |
Trawler |
|
2010-03 |
|
Owner Unknown |
500 |
499 |
Trawler |
|
2010-03 |
|
Owner Unknown |
500 |
499 |
Trawler |
|
2010-03 |
|
Минтранс |
51 |
343 |
Other shelf fleet |
Baudouin |
2010-08 |
|
Минтранс |
51 |
343 |
Other shelf fleet |
Baudouin |
2011-02 |
|
Минтранс |
51 |
343 |
Other shelf fleet |
Baudouin |
2011-02 |
|
Zelenodolsky ship-building factory, Tatarstan |
|||||
|
Owner Unknown |
12365 |
7212 |
Tanker (oil) |
Wartsila |
2009-00 |
|
Owner Unknown |
5120 |
4970 |
Break-bulk |
Wartsila |
2009-12 |
|
Rensen Scheepvaartbedrijf BV |
0 |
|
River-sea tanker |
|
2009-12 |
|
Star |
|||||
|
Arkhangelsk Tralflot |
315 |
601 |
Trawler |
Wartsila |
2009-00 |
|
Arkhangelsk Tralflot |
315 |
601 |
Trawler |
Wartsila |
2009-00 |
|
Owner Unknown |
315 |
601 |
Trawler |
Wartsila |
2009-00 |
|
Total |
981 384 |
778 643 |
|
|
|
Source: Alexei Bezborodov, Infranews.ru
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