News of our company

On 11.04.2013 the joint meeting of the Expert Council of the Federal Agency of Maritime and River Transport and Public Council of Rosmorrechflot took place in Moscow.
 
Alexander Davydenko (the head of the Federal Agency of Maritime and River Transport) pointed the importance of building a new fleet while opening the meeting. The cruise market begins to suffer from deficit of vessels; the existing fleet is aging rapidly. Common actions of government and business are needed for solving a problem of new passenger fleet building.
 
Report "About the consideration of the project's concept of the new cruise passenger vessel for operation on line Moscow - St. Petersburg - Astrakhan" was listened the first. Gennadiy Egorov (the general director of the Marine Engineering Bureau) was a reporter, Konstantin Anisimov (the general director of the Moscow River Shipping Company) was a co-speaker.
 
While the considering of the reports, it was noted, that average age of Russian river cruise vessels according to RRR is 38.5 years. It is clear that for the limit time of operation of such vessels (by world data) 45-50 years, we will soon lose our snow-white wonderful vessels that allow our and foreign tourists to enjoy the beauty of the Russian rivers, ancient cities, unique Kizhi and Valaam and learn the history of a great country "alive".
 
Reducing of the total number of cruise vessels in operation requires replacement of the obsolete fleet by the modern one. This requires a lot of years, significant financial and labor consumptions. Navigation period restriction on the Russian rivers significantly increases the payback period of investment (over 15-20 years), and disables the attraction of credit resources of commercial banks and usage of funds of leasing companies operating at the market.
 
This report had to show parametric line of modern river cruise vessels basing on the 2010-2012 years research conducted by the Marine Engineering Bureau in cooperation with the Moscow River Shipping Company. Parametric line vessels are to be of interest for Russian shipping companies and provide an acceptable payback period. Problems discussion with the leading experts of passenger branch such as K.O. Anisimov, V.F. Berezin, A.A. Trofimov, D.G. Ryabov, D.N. Galkin, A.E. Smolin played the fundamental role.
 
Two main concepts were discussed, namely projects PV500VB and PV300VB.
 
1. PV500VB project is a concept of four deck passenger cruise vessel of inland navigation with passenger capacity of about 500 people. Such vessels are going to be operated on the lines connecting the port of St. Petersburg with the port of Moscow, and in the future with all ports along Volga River up to port of Astrakhan.
 
Vessel has the following main features:
 
RRR class notation is M-PR 2.5 (Ice 30) A;
Length overall is of 179.86 m;
Length between perpendiculars is of 176.00 m;
Breadth overall is about 17.00 m;
Design breadth is of 16.80 m;
Depth is of 5.50 m;
Maximum draught is of 3.20 m;
Height overall from BL is of 16.40 m;
Crew and service staff is of 117 persons;
Autonomy by fuel is of 15 days, by other store types is of 10 days.
 
Dimensions and increased manoeuvrability thanks to full turned rudder propellers and thrusters allow to work on the Volga, up to Astrakhan.
 
Considered variant includes as follows: 2 luxury apartments (41 sq.m) with a balcony; 20 luxury double cabins (26 sq.m) with a balcony, 80 double cabins (17 sq.m) with a balcony, 72 double cabins (17 sq.m) with French balcony, 92 standard double cabins (15.5 sq.m). Passenger cabins are located in the middle vertical zone on 4 superstructure decks and in the hull on the lower deck.
 
Passenger capacity of the vessel can be varied depending on the type of cabin modules used and customer's requirements.
 
Cabins on the upper and sun decks have own balconies with sliding sections that provide through pass at emergency situations.
 
Forward vertical zone includes as follows: restaurant, panoramic theatrical music saloon with a bar and terrace, transformable conference halls, galley, pantry, provision stores, mess room and relax room for the crew, air-condition system room and fresh water preparing room. Aft vertical zone includes as follows: round-the-clock bar with a terrace, grill bar, video saloon, library, shops, information desk, children's room, internet office, sauna, hair saloon, spa saloon, massage room, gym, store rooms, engine room and sewage treatment room.
 
In fact, tryout of the passenger part variants basing on the PV500VB concept is fulfilling for the leading passenger fleet operators such as"Mosturflot", "Vodokhod" and the Russian company Viking River Cruiser ("Passenger Fleet").
 
2. PV300VB project is a concept of four deck passenger cruise vessel of mixed river-sea going navigation with passenger capacity of about 300 persons. PV300VB prj. vessel is of "Volga-Don Max" type one, dimensions are defined by waterway conditions of the Volga-Don Canal.
 
Such vessels are going to be operated on the lines connecting the port of St. Petersburg with the port of Moscow, through Volga-Don Canal with entering to the Sea of Azov, Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Red Sea, through Volga River with entering to the Caspian Sea, through Volga-Baltic Waterway with entering to the Baltic Sea and the North Sea.
 
Vessel has the following main features:
 
RS class notation is of KM Ice1 R2-RSN AUT1-ICS;
Length overall is of 140.19 m;
Length between perpendiculars is of 130.80 m;
Breadth overall is of 16.60 m;
Design breadth is of 16.20 m;
Depth is of 5.50 m;
Maximum draught is of 3.20 m;
Height overall from BL is of 17.20 m;
Crew and service staff is of 76 people;
Autonomy by fuel is of 15 days, by other store types is of 10 days.
 
For the 300-persons passenger capacity variant has the arrangement scheme as follows: 144 standard double cabins with area of about 13 sq.m, including 4 cabins with additional places and 6 luxury cabins. Passenger capacity of the vessel can be varied from 250 to 300 persons depending on the type of cabin modules used (area of standard cabins is from 13 till 18 sq.m).
 
Passenger cabins are located in the middle vertical zone on 4 superstructure decks. Luxury cabins have their own balconies Master's cabin and chief mechanic cabin are located tent deck near the wheel. Placement of the remaining 74 crew members is foreseen in the hull in the middle (living) vertical zone. Forward vertical zone includes as follows: panoramic theatrical music saloon with a bar, transformable conference halls, a spa saloon with sauna, fitness center, internet office, air-condition system room and fresh water preparing room. Aft vertical zone includes as follows: 2-tiers restaurant complex, provision stores, galley and engine room.
 
JSC "CNIIMF" under direction S.I. Buyanov (Director deputy, Ph.D.) performed modeling of operational activities of the major classes from the proposed line vessels.
 
The next operational schemes were took into consideration, as follows:
 
1. PV500VB concept. Vessel's operation on the line St. Petersburg - Moscow.
 
2. PV300VD concept. Combine operational scheme is foreseen, as follows:
 
• voyages by line Moscow - St. Petersburg during May-October period;
• in the end of navigation trip with tourists to Rostov-on-Don (voyages Moscow - Samara, Samara - Rostov-on-Don);
• voyage with tourists to the Red Sea: Rostov-on-Don - Yalta - Odessa - Istanbul (Turkey) - Alexandria (Egypt);
• voyages through the Red Sea from the port of Sharm-el-Sheikh at winter period.
 
Thus, it is expected that PV500VB projects cruise vessels will be operated only during the "summer" navigation period (for about 160 days), and the PV300VD project vessels will be operated for about 300 days thanks to trip to areas with extended (autumn and spring) and year-round navigation.
 
At the economical calculation it was taken into account, that the vessels will be registered in the Russian International Register of Shipping. Revenues were formed by cruises tickets sale; expenses were based on the prime cost of vessels' maintenance during running and laytime, and the additional expenses for tourists service during the voyage (meals, excursion programs at the visiting ports, entertainments on board, etc.).
 
Economical calculations have shown that for PV500VB and PV300VD projects payback term is ranged from 10.7 to 13.8 years. For PV300VD prj. this result is stipulated by long-lasting operational period (about 300 days).
 
PV500VB prj. vessel has benefits for a much greater passenger capacity, despite on the high building cost. Another significant factor is that the PV500VB prj. vessel will be operated using heavy fuel oil.
 
The payback period for PV500VB prj. will be about 20 years if interest rate on credit is 6%, according to the assessment of specialists from JSC "Moscow River Shipping".
 
Thus, for the first time at the post-soviet period the concepts of river and mixed river-sea going cruise passenger vessels have been proposed.
 
These concepts provide passenger comfort as at 4-star hotel, safety and environmental protection at the highest international requirements and at the same time they have REAL PAYBACK TERM.
 
The Expert Council of the Federal Agency of Maritime and River Transport has supported the proposed projects of river cruise vessels of f PV500VB and PV300VD prj. concepts for further designing and construction.