A solemn ceremony was held at the Onezhsky shipbuilding and shiprepairing plant on September 26, 2018 to put afloat the Rabochaya self-propelled hopper barge.

The ceremony was attended by deputy director for the fleet of the FSUE “Rosmorport” North-Western Basin Branch Grigory Biryulev, management of the plant and representatives of the industry.

During the event, a traditional fleet ceremony of ship christening has been held. The sponsor of the vessel, Yelena Poyedintseva, main specialist of the FSUE “Rosmorport” North-Western Basin Branch department for shipping routes operation, has smashed a bottle of champagne on the ship’s bow and thus demonstrated the beginning of its “new life”.

The Rabochaya self-propelled hopper barge of KM Ice1 R3-RSN AUT3 Hopper Class, Hull Number 203, is designed for transporting soil from drudgers consisting of the dredging convoy with the mechanical or pipeline dredge to the place of unloading while carrying out dredging operations.

The hopper barge is equipped with the bottom opening system. Main propulsion units protected by lead casing are placed in the ship stern that will help operatively service the ship’s propulsion system and make the replacement of mechanisms. The pod propulsion system is placed outside the hull and it may regulate the penetration of the screw and its lifting from the water for servicing and repairing afloat without vessel docking. Vessels of such project are designed for the operation in the basins of the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea and the Baltic Sea.

The vessel specifications:
Total length – 67.1 m
Total breadth – 11.4 m
Net capacity of the hold compartment – 916 cum
Sea endurance by water, fuel and food reserves – five days
Vessel’s home port – Big Port of St Petersburg