The Russian government has set targets to build 23 gas carriers by 2035, after the country's national shipbuilding strategy was signed off by prime minister Dmitry Medvedev.
Under the highest targets set by the strategy, Russia plans to build 23 gas carriers by 2035, dropping to just four under its "conservative scenario". The strategy did not indicate in any of the three scenarios it envisages how many of these vessels will be LNG or LPG carriers.
Only one Russian shipyard is able to build LNG carriers — the Rosneft-led Zvezda shipyard in the country's far east, which is yet to launch its first LNG vessel. But the Novatek-led 19.8mn t/yr Arctic LNG 2 project will likely place orders for 15-17 Arc 7 ice-class vessels with the shipyard, Novatek said in June.
The country's ban on foreign-flagged or foreign-built vessels transporting hydrocarbons through the Northern Sea Route (NSR) has meant that future vessel orders by Novatek's projects in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug — the Arctic coast located within the NSR — will likely be put to Russian-based shipyards.
Icebreaker production under the plan will also increase to 10-19 icebreakers by 2035, likely a result of increased passages through the NSR being expected, with president Vladimir Putin ordering cargo shipments through the NSR to more than quadruple to 80mn t/yr by 2025 from 18mn t in 2018.
The country has only four nuclear-powered icebreakers, all of which are based in Murmansk, primarily operating in the Kara and Laptev seas on the NSR. Five 60MW nuclear icebreakers are on order with the United Shipbuilding Corporation's St Petersburg-based Baltic Shipyard under Project 22220, the first of which is scheduled for delivery in 2020. And three 120MWLider-class nuclear icebreakers are set to be built by the Zvezda shipyard. Russia also has a number of lower-capacity diesel-powered icebreakers.
Russia's total shipbuilding output under the strategy should increase seven times over 2019-35 from the 32 civilian vessels launched last year, Medvedev said.
The strategy, which covers the entire Russian civilian shipbuilding industry, will focus initially on the prioritisation of import substitution and localisation of shipbuilding protection, likely an attempt to isolate the industry from international sanctions that affect other Russian industries. The plan foresees the independence of the domestic shipbuilding industry from the global market by localising the supply chain to Russian firms.
| Russian shipbuilding targets | ||
| Period | Gas carriers | Icebreakers |
| 2019-20 | 0 | 3 |
| 2021-25 | 0 | 10 |
| 2026-30 | 11 | 5 |
| 2031-35 | 12 | 1 |
| — Russian government | ||
