OPK Shipyards Deliver the New Icebreaker "St. Petersburg"

MOSCOW, July 16 /PRNewswire/ -- United Industrial Corporation (OPK) shipyards have delivered a diesel electric line icebreaker "St. Petersburg" to Rosmorport (Russian Maritime Port). A solemn ceremony of the signing of the takeover certificate and making the colors of the Russian Federation on the icebreaker was held at the Baltiysky Zavod plant, a part of OPK.

The participants of this ceremony were Vladimir Putin, Prime-Minister of the Russian Federation, Igor Levitin, Russian Minister of transportation, Valentino Matvienko, the Governor of St. Petersburg, Sergey Pugachev and Lyudmila Narusova, members of the Council of Federation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, Alexander Gnusarev, OPK Chairman of the Management Board, Andrey Fomichev, CEO of the Baltiysky Zavod plant.

According the certificate the icebreaker is the property of Rosmorport. It's planned to start its exploitation in the Gulf of Finland in the winter of 2009.

OPK shipyards build fundamentally new multifunctional icebreakers, analogues of which no other Russian company has built earlier. The multifunctional Moskva icebreaker was completed by OPK and delivered in December 2008, which became the first vessel to be built at a domestic plant for the last 34 years.

The St. Petersburg icebreaker is the second diesel-electric line icebreaker, built by OPK at the request of Rosmorport. It constitutes a two-decked vessel with two propulsors of a total capacity of 16 MW. Due to this peculiarity it has high mobility and passability. In addition to these characteristics, the icebreaker is equipped with such a particular outfit to fulfill the search of sunken ships at the depth of 300 meters. The shape of the vessel's hull has been especially designed with application of the latest solutions for decreasing the power input in ice-breaking operations and improving sea-worthiness. The icebreaker is designed for escorting targe tankers (50 m beam); towing operations for vessels in icy and open waters. The high mobility lets the icebreaker carry out salvage operations during roughness force. The displacement totals about 10 000 tons, the length totals 116 meters, the width 26,5 meters, the draft 8,5 meters and the speed totals 17 knots.

The icebreaker has been tested and inspected by specialists of the Baltiysky Zavod plant. OPK's shipbuilding assets have 80 years of operational experience in the construction of icebreakers. In March 2007, the Baltiysky Zavod plant finished executing a historical contract for the construction of the world's biggest atomic icebreaker "50 let Pobedy".

About OPK

United Industrial Corporation (OPK) is a diversified holding company with total value of assets of more than US$13 billion. OPK develops and manages an investment portfolio in major sectors of the Russian economy, including the financial sector, real estate development, shipbuilding, mining and media. For more information please visit the OPK website http://eng.opk.ru/

SOURCE OPK