Russian Civil Shipbuilding Sector

Norebo Group changed names of its assets, Pella SK and Pella-Stapel
New names of the companies are Otradnoye Shipyard LLC and Neva-Stapel LLC, respectively

Norebo Group says it changedthe names of its assets,Pella SK and Pella-Stapel to Otradnoye Shipyard LLC and Neva-Stapel LLC, respectively from 18 May 2023.

Pella shipyard based in Russia’s Leningrad region was founded in 1950. Pella was privatized in 1992. Reorganization of Pella JSC was completed in November 2022 with Pella SK, LLC taking over the rights and obligations under shipbuilding contracts on construction of fishing ships and Pella-Stapel, LLC acting as a contractor (its assets were acquired by Norebo in spring 2022).

According to earlier reports of IAA PortNews, Norebo said in January 2023 that the order book of Pella SK, LLC and Pella-Stapel, LLC (assets of Norebo Group) numbered 12 fishing ships including two crab catchers of Project 3070; four mid-size processing trawlers of Project 3095, two mid-size processing trawlers of Project 1701 and four long-liners of Project 200101.

Established in 1997, Norebo is one of Russia’s three largest fishing companies. The group incorporates fishing companies based in the North-West Region and in the Far East of Russia, fish processing factories, a logistics center, cargo terminal Seroglazka and ship repair facilities in Kamchatka. From 2022, Norebo has been investing in the development of its shipbuilding company in the Leningrad Region. The group’s fleet numbers over 40 medium-size and large-size fishing ships operating in all key fishing areas of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The holding’s transport company is engaged in fish products transportation by refrigerated ships. As of today, Norebo headquartered in Murmansk employs over 3,500 people.

lancelot wrote:From what I read the Pella Shipyard has been winning the lawsuits against the Russian state with regards to the Karakurt class corvettes.
It is not their fault that components like engines were not delivered on time. Because of that they could not finish the ships on the contracted construction time. The ship hulls were complete and were launched. When components were delivered on time you can see they delivered complete ships in 3-4 years.

But all those delays and the costs of the lawsuit likely did cause the shipyard some losses.

lancelot wrote:
Vostochnaya Verf lost the contract to build the Karakurt class corvettes to Amur Shipyard. So they lacked the orders to remain viable. I do not know if there are some kind of political reasons for them losing the contract. But I think it was a bad idea to clog Amur Shipyard with building the Karakurt when it could easily have been taken care of by the smaller yard at Vostochnaya Verf. They should use Amur Shipyard to build the larger ships.

GarryB wrote:Lots of stories recently about western entities owning port facilities and just extracting money out of them and not putting anything back in to stifle growth and development of Russian ports and companies.

Seems the Russians have been working hard to reverse these privatisation errors and reclaim these assets to get them working again as state owned assets...

We saw what happened with RED diesel engines in Germany and we know about western interests sabotaging Russian companies and stealing money from them... perhaps foreign interests will be squeezed out and Russians can rebuild and start growing... there is no shortage of work on ship building in Russia for civilian and military vessels and getting more and more ports and shipyards working using Russian workers and Russian components and materials to make ships for Russian companies is the most desirable goal all round.

And for vostochnaya verf? Is the bankruptcy procedure something only negative or can it also bring positive changes (except for the current owners)?

Scorpius wrote:

GarryB wrote:Lots of stories recently about western entities owning port facilities and just extracting money out of them and not putting anything back in to stifle growth and development of Russian ports and companies.

Seems the Russians have been working hard to reverse these privatisation errors and reclaim these assets to get them working again as state owned assets...

We saw what happened with RED diesel engines in Germany and we know about western interests sabotaging Russian companies and stealing money from them... perhaps foreign interests will be squeezed out and Russians can rebuild and start growing... there is no shortage of work on ship building in Russia for civilian and military vessels and getting more and more ports and shipyards working using Russian workers and Russian components and materials to make ships for Russian companies is the most desirable goal all round.

If you think that the problem is only in the shipbuilding sector, you are mistaken. They are common in EVERY field. The owner of one of the enterprises from Almaz-Antey lives in Sweden. Of the deputy prime ministers of Russia who have held office over the past 25 years, it seems that only Rogozin has not fled abroad. The owners of the largest retailers in Russia are foreign assets. The owners of the largest developers in Russia live permanently in the West.

Zvezda to replace South Korean shipyards with Chinese ones

The Zvezda shipbuilding complex, which is located in Primorye, ceases cooperation with South Korean companies. As RZD-Partner notes , the plant is currently building 26 large reinforced ice-class tankers to transport hydrocarbons along the Northern Sea Route (NSR). It was originally planned that 15 of them would be created in partnership with South Korea. However, last year the shipyards decided to stop cooperation with the Russian side.

“The Koreans signed up for 15 [vessels], they give 5, they will be completed on the Zvezda. 10 remain, now we are negotiating with colleagues from China,” Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Viktor Evtukhov said at the session “The Russian Fleet for New Sea Transport Corridors”. He noted that about 70 ships would be needed to transport hydrocarbons along the NSR.

According to Port News, Yevtukhov also clarified that in addition to the 26 vessels that are already under construction, another 44 are announced for construction by various users and manufacturers of products that will be transported along the Northern Sea Route. “According to Rosatom estimates, there should be another 2 dozen more of these vessels,” the deputy head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade specified. At the same time, the Russian shipbuilding industry is ready to build them, provided that all applications are verified and turn into “solid contracts”.

GarryB wrote:
I woulds say a bankrupt private company could be taken over by the state for a few cents in the dollar so they could buy up valuable assets rather cheaply and make them state owned... or get a court order to make null and void the illegal ownership in the first place...

I heard these stories before so many times but one thing is for certain, if it was the case, then Russia would have nearly collapsed with these sanctions and cut off from swift. Yet that didn't happen, but growth did.

That the Russians are using this technique back ended by nationalisation is interesting and logical. Such an event occurred in the UK in 1971 when, due to runaway costs of the RB-211, Rolls Royce crashed, only to be rescued and nationalised by the UK Government.

THE ZVEZDA SHIPYARD CARRIED OUT A UNIQUE OPERATION TO REMOVE TWO SHIPS FROM THE DRY DOCK AT THE SAME TIME.

Specialists of Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex carried out a unique operation to simultaneously de-dock two vessels: the first ARC6 ice class shuttle tanker and the ARC 7 class LNG carrier.

The solemn ceremony of launching the vessels took place in the presence of representatives of SSC Zvezda, customers and the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping. The whole operation lasted about a day: after filling the dock bowl with water and diverting the batoport (floating dock gate), the vessels were towed to the place of outfitting work. After their completion, the vessels will undergo mooring trials.

A reinforced ice-class ARC6 shuttle tanker with a deadweight of 69,000 tons is being built by order of JSC Rosnefteflot. The ship was given the name "Valentin Pikul" - in honor of the Soviet writer, author of numerous works of art on historical and naval topics.

The tanker is designed to transport oil and is capable of independently navigating without icebreaking support in the waters of the northern seas, in rarefied first-year ice with a thickness of up to 1.1 m in winter-spring navigation, and up to 1.7 m in summer-autumn navigation. The maximum length of the tanker will be 257 meters (7 meters more than the Aframax tanker), width - 34 meters, draft - 14 meters, depth - 21 meters, speed - 15.5 knots. The propulsion system includes controlled full-revolving rudder propellers. In addition, the new vessel will be equipped with a bow loading device for receiving oil directly from a stationary ice-resistant offshore berth.

The ARC 7 icebreaking LNG carrier Sergei Witte is named after the Russian statesman, financier and founder of Russian industrialization. This is the third tanker in a series of vessels being built at SSC Zvezda in the interests of PAO NOVATEK for the Arctic LNG-2 project. The gas carriers will be operated under long-term time charter agreements between PAO Sovcomflot and OOO SMART LNG (a subsidiary of the Sovcomflot Group and NOVATEK) with OOO Arctic LNG 2 (a subsidiary of PAO NOVATEK), financed construction of VEB.RF ships. Fitting work is underway on the first two ships of the series, which have already been launched.

SSK Zvezda is the first Russian shipyard to implement a project for the construction of such vessels. Icebreaking LNG carriers of the ARC 7 class are one of the most technologically sophisticated innovative vessels to build, each of which has a capacity of more than 172,000 cubic meters and is equipped with three unique rudder propellers. The length of the vessel is 300 m, the width is 48.8 m, the draft is 11.7 m, the deadweight is 81,000 tons. The power plant of the gas carrier is 45 MW. These vessels are designed to transport liquefied natural gas and are capable of operating in harsh climatic conditions, independently breaking ice more than 2 m thick. Their distinguishing feature is the presence of a membrane-type LNG storage system.

THE ZVEZDA SHIPYARD CARRIED OUT A UNIQUE OPERATION TO REMOVE TWO SHIPS FROM THE DRY DOCK AT THE SAME TIME.

GarryB wrote:When they talk about rudder propellers are they talking about azipod type external propeller pods that can be rotated 360 degrees to manouver the ship?

If so that is quite important because it would have to be all Russian made...

Samsung Heavy Industries faces contract cancellation due to Russian sanctions

Samsung Heavy Industries is facing a potential contract cancellation regarding the construction of icebreaking LNG carriers for Russia, due to sanctions imposed on Russia in response to the Ukraine conflict.

Samsung Heavy's construction of 15 icebreaking LNG carriers as part of Russia's Arctic LNG2 initiative has been impeded, with the progress of 10 vessels being frozen as of August, according to the company Tuesday.

While the first three ships — Aleksey Kosygin, Pyotr Stolypin and Sergei Witt — have already been delivered, and the construction of two more is still in progress, construction of the remaining 10 ship blocks has come to a halt.

The escalation of tensions between Russia and Ukraine has led the international community to impose substantial economic sanctions. Consequently, Russia has been expelled from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (Swift), a move that has disrupted financial transactions and payment processing.

This has, in turn, created complications in the payment process between Samsung Heavy Industries and its Russian counterpart. The recipient of the order is believed to be Sovcomflot, the state-owned Russian shipping company.

Arctic LNG2, led by Russia’s state-run gas producer Novatek, is Russia's major natural gas project. Collaborative efforts involving Novatek, Sovcomflot and the Russian state development corporation VEB.RF led to shipbuilding contracts with Zvezda Shipyard in 2020.

Samsung Heavy Industries is working in partnership with Zvezda to build 15 icebreaking LNG carriers, capitalizing on Samsung's technical prowess.

"The concurrent timing of Russia's sanctions has cast doubt on the progress of the 10 pending vessels," a Samsung Heavy official said.

"Negotiations are ongoing to chart a way forward. Discussions around contract termination are not being considered, taking into account the relationship with the Russian shipowner."

This situation echoes a previous incident involving Hanwha Ocean, which terminated contracts for three icebreaking LNG carriers previously ordered from Sovcomflot during the era of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering due to payment delays totaling $850 million.