VLADIVOSTOK, September 13. /TASS./ Investments in a modern shipyard, which will be used to upgrade the river fleet of Yakutia’s Lena United River Shipping Company, are estimated at about 1.5 billion rubles ($21.9 million), the shipping company’s Director General Sergei Larionov told TASS on sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum on Thursday.
The shipyard will be made as a reconstruction of the fleet’s Zhatai service base. The project is planned for 2019-2021. With the new shipyard, the company will upgrade the outdated fleet to deliver cargo to Yakutia’s Arctic regions. According to the company, the average age of the fleet’s vessels is 35 years.
"The Lena Shipping Company should renew the fleet," the company’s director general said. "Presently, we have 378 vessels. The Zhatai shipyard is necessary not only for Yakutia’s reasons, but also for making new vessels for the entire Lena basin [Irkutsk Region - TASS]."
"The project’s cost is estimated at 5.7 billion rubles ($83 million), where 4 billion rubles ($58 billion) will come from the federal budget," he said after signing an agreement with the Agency for attracting investments and for exports support.
The company’s head explained the investments are necessary as the region and the company do not have enough money to finalize the project. "We hope to fill the gap with investments," he said.
The Lena United River Shipping Company (owned by Yakutia’s government) is the only transport company, which serves river transportation to Yakutia’s Arctic regions. The shipping company owns more than 350 cargo, towing, passenger and auxiliary vessels with a total capacity of 450 thousand tons. The Zhatai service base was built in 1943.