ARKHANGELSK, April 17. /TASS/. Arkhangelsk needs at least three more ship repair docks to meet the current demand for repairs of about 250 ships per year, Director of the Arkhangelsk Trawl Fleet's maintenance base Sergey Malgin told the Arctic - Regions forum in Arkhangelsk.

"We need to satisfy the demand for 250 vessels. If one dock can serve 25-30 vessels, then Arkhangelsk needs at least three docks," he told a panel discussion on the Arctic fleet's repair.

The Arkhangelsk Trawl Fleet's base has been expanding its capabilities: every year, up to 28 vessels are certified, and, together with works afloat, the company repairs up to 34 vessels. "We plan to receive next year equipment to make parts of bronze, copper to be able to replace parts for pumps, fittings right on the spot, to do everything faster," he said.

According to Vasily Shaitanov, CEO of the Kimek Company (Murmansk), clearly the dock rent jumping cost proves the shortage of docks - the current cost is about 300,000 rubles ($3,700) a day - "insane money, the market is completely on the seller's side," he said. The company is considering to increase capabilities of its ship lift from the current 5,000 to 10,000 tons in order to work with the fishing fleet, medium and large freezer trawlers, as "the queue of incoming vessels is always longer than existing possibilities."

According to Mikhail Salynin of the Northern Shipping Company, the cost of building one dock is about 5-6 billion rubles ($61-73 million), and the payback term is 50 years - for private businesses this is not doable without a state support. He also highlighted the problem of at least doubled prices of spare parts for ship repair. "Spare parts are hard to get, delivery time has increased, the price has practically doubled, we can see a number of intermediaries and each of them is anxious to make a share. In this situation, the ship owner becomes a poor relative. Clearly, dock facilities are expensive and not fast," he told the forum.

Quality issues

He also pointed to the problem of repair quality. "As Western companies have fled, we are facing problems with the quality of repairs. While in the past, Priboy [the Rostov Ship Repair Plant] ordered complex and high-tech works in Poland, we nowadays lack high-level specialists, and at times they are even none. We've used to buy all the ships in Europe and now we have come to a point where we cannot get keys to the electronics, and, in a way, have to bypass certain equipment," he added.

Meanwhile, the Arkhangelsk branch of Krasnaya Kuznitsa - Zvezdochka - actively attracts and trains personnel, the branch's Director Mikhail Deryabin said. "At the end of 2021, we signed a contract to build four passenger ships, thus we are quite busy, but we have partners who help in the areas where we cannot cope. Before this project and before the current specific economic conditions, we have managed on our own, and nowadays it is more difficult, although we have been employing people actively. The volumes are growing - both dock repairs and shipbuilding. We have been working on the total of about 60 vessels," he said.

Sergey Maizerov, chief engineer of Zvezdochka's Center for Propulsive Systems, said the center plans to become independent from imported propulsion systems. "Jointly with the scientific and educational center, we have been developing additive technologies. We are using the method of direct laser cultivation, which allows us to expand the design possibilities, to create products with an internal structure, cavities. We have progressed from prototypes to specific parts, complying with the regulations. Further plan is to develop bevel gears. We have been working on a number of solutions to produce bevel gears, to get the features we need, in the Russian Federation. This will put an end to Zvezdochka's dependence on imports in terms of making propulsion systems," he said.

Earlier, the Arkhangelsk Region's Governor Alexander Tsybulsky said domestic vessels, that had undergone services at foreign ports, were returning to the Arkhangelsk docks due to the sanctions. All services and repairs have been contracted to early 2025, he said. The region plans to create a ship repair coordination center in Severodvinsk to develop modern approaches and best practices in ship repair. Arkhangelsk plans to build another dock for ship repair, he added.

The Arctic - Regions business forum is a platform for operators of oil and mining projects in the Arctic, owners of cargo, fishing and icebreaker fleets, as well as for big industrial, logistics and machine-building companies. The forum's key topic was management and development of the Northern Sea Route and neighboring waters. TASS was the forum's general information partner.