The jubilee V Icebreaker Festival was held in St Petersburg on April 29-30, 2018. Residents and guests of the city could visit icebreakers of the FSUE “Rosmorport” – the Novorossiysk, the St Petersburg, the Mudyug and the Ivan Kruzenshtern, which had recently successfully completed icebreaker support for vessels in 2017-2018 in Russian freezing seaports. The festival was also attended by the Nevskaya Zastava ice-class tugboat and the Krasin icebreaker museum. The vessels were moored at the Angliyskaya Naberezhnaya (the English Embarkment) and the Lieutenant Shmidt Embarkment.

Over two days, free charge access to the icebreakers has been organized for those who wished to come onboard. The visitors have been met by crewmembers and cadets of Admiral Makarov State University of Maritime and Inland Shipping and St Petersburg State Marine Technical University. The guests have been told about the construction of icebreakers and lifestyle of their crews onboard. The Novorossiysk, the newest diesel-electric linear icebreaker, which was put into operation less than two years ago, in December 2016, has been in priority among the visitors.

Interactive and entertainment programs, children creative master classes, contests and trivia shows devoted to the life at sea, shipbuilding and the exploration in the Arctic have been organized for the visitors on the Embarkments.

During the festival, the Tugboat Valse has been performed by tradition. Four tugboats swept away to the tunes of famous waltzes by pairing up or gathering together, by issuing water fountains from mouths of fire-extinguishing installations.

The closing ceremony involved Deputy Director of the FSUE “Rosmorport” North-Western Basin Branch Andrei Balashov.

Over 110.000 people have attended the event this year. The festival with the participation of icebreakers of FSUE “Rosmoport” has been held since 2014. Today it is rather popular among residents of St Petersburg. Guests from other cities especially arrive to look at the icebreakers. The priority of the event is to show the status of Russia as a great sea power and St Petersburg as its sea capital. In addition, it allows guests to discover the history and the particularities of the work of the country’s icebreaker fleet.

Chairman of the St Petersburg Tourism Committee Andrei Mushkarev stressed the role of the event to increase the northern capital’s tourist attractiveness. Mushkarev gave a letter of commendation to the FSUE “Rosmorport” North-Western Basin Branch and noted its big contribution in this sphere.