Icebreakers

$40,000 CRUISE - NORTH POLE on 50 Years of Victory nuclear-powered icebreaker

I have seen the Russian icebreaker program dismissed elsewhere because global warming will supposedly make them useless.

This is the usual pinheaded "analysis" that western stellar intellects apply to Russia.

1) Winters will still be in the Arctic in 2100 and it will take a hot house regime to make the Arctic warm year round. This
will not happen before 2100 and likely centuries from now. Radiative losses of heat energy during the polar night will continue
to dominate until there are enough greenhouse gases in the troposphere and water vapour in the stratosphere to effectively
trap IR.

2) Reduced ice thickness actually makes the need for icebreakers greater. It is easier for winds to pile up thin sea ice
than thick sea ice. So even if the average thickness is say 1 m there will be lots of places where piles will exceed 4 m
in thickness. So the Lider class will still have to work for a living.

3) The nearly ice free period will remain a fraction of the year (from August to October) for decades. Year round shipping
is in demand.

Icebreaker "Viktor Chernomyrdin" will be operated in the Baltic Sea

"the world's most powerful diesel-electric icebreaker " Viktor Chernomyrdin " will be commissioned no later than November 1.

https://bmpd.livejournal.com/4109740.html

Interesting history: https://document.wikireading.ru/29533

The largest supertanker in Venezuela passed under the Russian flag

According to the RBC news agency in the material of Ivan Tkachev and Timofey Dzyadko, "The largest supertanker in Venezuela passed under the Russian flag," the largest oil supertanker in Venezuela changed its name and was registered in the Russian register, RBC found out. Experts admit that re-registration could help the tanker find an insurer.



Tanker "Maxim Gorky" (Maximo Gorky), former Venezuelan Ayacucho (c) mariannaparraga / Twitter

The largest supertanker belonging to Venezuela passed under the Russian flag, RBC found out. This precedent follows from the Equasis database of marine vessels: out of more than 800 vessels that have ever flown the Venezuelan flag, there are only occasional examples of transition to another jurisdiction - Liberia or Panama.

The tanker with a deadweight of 320.8 thousand tons - that is, of the VLCC (Very Large Crude Carrier) class, formerly called Ayacucho (one of the Venezuelan cities is called Puerto Ayacucho), in May 2020 changed its name to Maxim Gorky, and in June it was re-registered in the Russian register and goes under the Russian flag, it follows from the data of Equasis. This is confirmed by an extract from the Russian International Register of Vessels (RMRS), which states that the supertanker was registered in Russia on May 27, 2020.

The certificate of classification was issued to the vessel on August 20 by the Russian River Register, it follows from the extract.

The largest Russian-flagged tanker,

Maxim Gorky, may now be the largest Russian-flagged tanker. Prior to that, the largest storage tankers (floating oil storage facilities) in Russia were Umba (300 thousand tons deadweight) and Kola (309 thousand tons), follows from the Equasis database and publications in open sources.

In 2013, Venezuela's state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) hosted the new supertanker Ayacucho from the Chinese shipyard Bohai Shipbuilding (it also built foreign-flagged tankers for Sovcomflot). “This is a vessel that holds 2 million barrels. oil. It is almost as big as an aircraft carrier. This is the aircraft carrier of our Fatherland, our sovereignty, "Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez proclaimed at the time.

Ayacucho and three other supertankers were on the balance sheet of the Singaporean joint venture CV Shipping, owned by PDVSA and the Chinese state-owned company PetroChina. However, after the United States imposed sanctions on PDVSA and international insurers withdrew coverage for its ships, the Chinese partner initiated the bankruptcy of the Singapore JV, Reuters reported. PetroChina took three tankers for itself, but left the fourth, Ayacucho, to the Venezuelans.

Singapore - Venezuela - Russia

PDVSA transferred the tanker from Singapore under the Venezuelan flag in March 2020. After that, on May 27, PDVSA handed the vessel over to the National Institute of Water Management (INEA) of Venezuela, a government agency that is not on the US sanctions list. However, in August 2019, the United States extended blocking sanctions to the Venezuelan government, defining the "government" for these purposes broadly - "including any of its political divisions or agencies."

Simultaneously with the transfer of the vessel to the INEA agency on May 27, it changed its registration to the Russian one and was registered in the Big Port of St. Petersburg, it follows from the data of Equasis and RMRS. The vessel "is registered in the Russian International Register of Shipping in St. Petersburg", the press service of the Ministry of Transport of Russia confirmed to RBC.

The Russian register indicates that the owner of the vessel is the Moscow shipping company Transoceania, established in early 2020. The Ministry of Transport also speaks about this: “The ship belongs to the Russian-Venezuelan company Transoceania LLC. But from the point of view of the Russian Merchant Shipping Code, a person who only operates the ship can be indicated in the ship's register as the owner of the ship, RBC has already written. In the Equasis database, Transoceania is designated as the management company for the vessel. From the Russian register it follows that it has entered into a bareboat charter agreement with the shipowner (the shipowner transfers the ship to the charterer for temporary use and bareboat ownership for a certain fee and for a certain period. - RBC). The tanker is listed in the international bareboat charter register, which is part of the RMRS.

Venezuela and Sovfrakht

The founders of Transoceania on a parity basis were INEA and the transport company Sovfrakht, which is under US sanctions for working in Crimea. Thus, the joint venture is automatically subject to US sanctions under the US Treasury's “50% rule”. There are no other vessels in the management of "Transoceania", it follows from the data of Equasis.

"Transoceania" now actually does not operate the ship "Maxim Gorky", says a source of RBC close to "Sovfrakht". “To steer a ship means to have your crew on board and a captain, to give orders, etc. In theory, if the tanker can be used, this company will be able to operate it, but now it is practically impossible [because of the US sanctions], ”he said.

RBC sent a request to the Sovfrakht press service.

The situation for Maxim Gorky is complicated by the fact that the Dutch company OI European Group BV (OIEG, a subsidiary of the American OI Glass) is claiming the tanker. As Reuters reported in August, in June 2020, OIEG filed a motion with a Singapore court for an arrest warrant for the supertanker in an attempt to enforce an international arbitration award in favor of OIEG against Venezuela in 2015. The Claimant asserts that he owes shares in Ayacucho Shipping Pte Ltd (Singapore), through which PDVSA and PetroChina allegedly owned the Ayacucho (“Maxim Gorky”) vessel.

RBC sent a request to OI Glass, but received no response at the time of publication.

Where is "Maxim Gorky" going

According to Reuters, Maxim Gorky has been in Venezuela's territorial waters since 2018. The tanker was used as a floating storage for oil. However, PDVSA completed it in July. Venezuela plans to send the ship for repairs to China and somewhere to unload the accumulated 2 million barrels. oil, says Reuters.

Until recently, the tanker was actually used as a floating storage for the Jose oil terminal, which was located off the coast of Venezuela, confirms Russ Dallen, managing director of investment bank Caracas Capital. “But this month he left the waters of Venezuela and is now heading towards Asia, skirting Africa,” Dallen told RBC. According to him, Caracas Capital is monitoring the vessel through the satellite Automatic Identification System (AIS, the signal is transmitted by transponders on the vessel).

There are 47 Venezuelan vessels on the US sanctions list, but Maxim Gorky is not among them. However, since the tanker is owned by a Venezuelan government agency (under sanctions) and is de jure operated by a company under sanctions, it automatically also falls under US restrictions. This means that in practice the ship is most likely left without international insurance and certificates required for navigation in international waters and port calls.

Is it possible to insure it

Even in the Russian market, it is not easy to insure such a tanker; it is customary to prescribe clauses on sanctions risks in the contracts of marine insurers, says an insurance broker familiar with this market to RBC. International classification certificates from the Chinese Classification Society and the Norwegian Bureau DNV GL have been withdrawn from the tanker since the beginning of 2020, according to the information provided by Equasis.

“Russian insurers accept ships under Russian flags for insurance, since the form of their ownership, seaworthiness and history are generally easier to assess. However, any insurer first of all pays attention not to the flag, but to the technical condition, ship and classification documents of the vessel, to the experience and reputation of the owner - the insured. So such motivation to change the flag is allowed, but it is unlikely to be the only one, ”said Victoria Zhdanova, senior partner of the law firm Inmarin (specializing in maritime law), to RBC.

“Most often, the change of the flag is done for commercial reasons. The Russian flag is included in the register of "white flags" for the purposes of the Paris Memorandum of Understanding on the control of ships by the port state, that is, ships flying the Russian flag have a good reputation and are less frequently subject to checks by the port authorities. Also, the change of the flag may be dictated by intentions in the future to work in the internal sea waters of Russia [cabotage], ”Zhdanova said. However, supertankers cannot enter any ports, they need deep-sea terminals.

When registering ships in Russia, a preferential taxation regime is provided: the import of ships registered in the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping is exempt from VAT, the income of ship owners from such ships is not taken into account when determining the tax base for income tax, such ships are not subject to property tax and transport tax.

https://bmpd.livejournal.com/4143121.html

the above article belongs here: https://www.russiadefence.net/t3852p950-venezuela-crisis#293831

Construction of the lead nuclear-powered icebreaker "Arktika" of project 22220 completed

As reported by United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC), the construction of the lead nuclear-powered icebreaker Arktika of project 22220 (LK-60Ya) has been completed. The future flagship of the Russian icebreaker fleet nuclear icebreaker of project 22220 "Arktika" on September 22, 2020 left the outfitting embankment of JSC "Baltiysky Zavod" (part of USC) in St. Petersburg and went to the home port of Murmansk, where an acceptance certificate will be signed.

Fuck off with Jamestown. You might as well post the Onion as it's more credible.

miketheterrible wrote:Fuck off with Jamestown. You might as well post the Onion as it's more credible.

Like, they are still on about that busted motor?

That thing is getting replaced came next maintenance check and it's not even unique situation in operation of civilian ships

They act like reactor is leaking or something, seriously they should either up their game or shut the fuck up...

miketheterrible wrote:Fuck off with Jamestown. You might as well post the Onion as it's more credible.

Her Majesty's pride the new UK aircraft carrier had a propeller falling apart and vibration problems with the drive shafts.     I don't remember seeing Jamestown calling this a
sign of trouble for the British Navy.    All of these NGO/think-tank operations are wishful thinking fantasy projection rendered into pulp fiction orifices.   Their task is to
spread FUD about Russia and not real analysis.

Also funny how Russia supposedly cannot into icebreakers. Seriously, what retarded crap. Jamestown clowns should be more concerned with the inability of
US workers to weld submarine hulls.

Funny thing is that this propaganda creates a delusional bubble around NATzO since NATzO deciders love the taste of this koolaid.

Better later than never. Russia already has 40 of them- if there isn't much demand, they can serve longer while the new hulls r being built.

Are there any updates on the broken motor on the first ship?

limb wrote:Are there any updates on the broken motor on the first ship?

It will be replaced during first maintenance checkup

It's will be running on other two until then

PapaDragon wrote:

limb wrote:Are there any updates on the broken motor on the first ship?

It will be replaced during first maintenance checkup

It's will be running on other two until then

What's the time table for that? Will it have to take space again at the shipyard it was built? Also I heard several components of the electrical drives and screws came from Ukraine and the US. Is there any info if they have been replaced. I heard rumors that several of the arktikas are in the water waiting for import substition and work on them has paused.