Following a ceremony in Saint-Petersburg, on 29 June, Russia’s new icebreaker ‘Alexander Sannikov’ has joined the national Arctic fleet, becoming the first icebreaker built under the ‘Arctic Time’ program. Gazprom Neft’s icebreaker is designed to support tankers transporting oil from the Novoportovskoye field in the Gulf of Ob.
The new icebreaker will begin their regular escort from July. The vessel is designed to provide up to 40 days of battery life at extreme temperatures of -50 degrees. The onboard computers completely regulate the life support of the icebreaker, while digitalization of icebreaker management increased the efficiency of the crew: Performing similar functions on other icebreaking vessels requires a twofold increase in the number of crew.
On clean water, Alexander Sannikov accelerates to 16 knots (25 km/h), which makes it comparable to nuclear icebreakers, Gazprom claims.
A second vessel of this class, ‘Andrey Vilkitsky’ will follow in late October 2018, according to the company. The ships are designed by Aker Arctic and constructed at Vyborg yard in St.Petersburg.
