ABB opened a Marine Service Center in Russia aiming to support the growing Arctic maritime industries. The newly inaugurated center aspires to support ABB’s ship power, propulsion and automation technologies and expand service capabilities for ice-going vessels.
Located in Murmansk, the new center occupies 2,000 m2 in a purpose-built facility with electrical and mechanical testing areas, and a workshop served by overhead gantry cranes. The center also incorporates a warehouse for Azipod propulsion and electrical spare parts to ensure shortest delivery times and enhance responsiveness.
In addition, seven global Collaborative Operations Centers connect into shipboard sensors to monitor the equipment onboard and support remote preventive and predictive maintenance under ABB’s ‘Electric. Digital. Connected.’ approach.
Today, there is more traffic in the Northern Shipping Route, as journey times between Asia and Europe can be reduced by up to two weeks. Namely, companies such as Maersk, ESL Shipping, Cosco, and Sovcomflot have all chosen NSR to sail some of their ships.
Indicative of this increase in traffic is the fact that cargo shipping in Russia’s Northern Sea Route has increased about five times since 2013. A total of 13 million tons of cargo has been transported through the route until October 1. This is a major increase compared to the just 3 million tons that were shipped in 2013. In addition, the full year figure is expected to reach as much as 17 million tons.
