MOSCOW, May 17. /TASS/. The ceremony to launch the Viktor Astafyev passenger vessel - Russia's first vessel built to operate in the Arctic - is due on June 5 at the Sredne-Nevsky Shipyard (part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation, USC), the corporation's press service told TASS.

"On June 5, the ceremony of launching the Viktor Astafyev lead passenger vessel of Project A45-90.2 will take place at USC's Sredne-Nevsky Shipyard," the press service said. "The river-sea class vessel project, contracted by the State Transport Leasing Company, is the largest civil order in the shipyard's history, and it is the first ship built in the country for operation in the Russian Federation's Arctic Zone."

The ship will serve socially significant route Krasnoyarsk - Dudinka - Krasnoyarsk, where water transport is practically unique for long-distance passenger transportation, the press service noted.

The passenger vessel is adapted for operation in the Arctic. It can carry 245 passengers in comfortable cabins on routes up to 5,000 km long. The ship is highly safe, economically efficient, comfortable and environmentally friendly. The length is 99 m, width - 14.9 m, the maximum speed is about 26 km/h, the crew is 41 people, and the autonomy is 15 days.

Earlier, the shipyard signed a contract worth 5 billion rubles ($55 million) with the leasing company on two passenger ships. The Andrey Dubensky and the Viktor Astafyev of Project A45-90.2 were laid at the plant in St. Petersburg in 2020 and in 2021, respectively. The Krasnoyarsk Region's governor has reported both vessels would start working on the Yenisei River in 2025.