Pilots of the Vanino Branch of FSUE "Rosmorport" piloted new lead cargo-and-passenger road-and-rail ferry Vasily Oshchepkov under construction.

The pilotage of the vessel, which is being built by the Amur shipyard (Komsomolsk-on-Amur), was carried out from the roadstead of the seaport of Nikolaevsk-on-Amur by the fairways of the Amur estuary to buoy No. 1 of the seaport.

The ferry under construction will be towed from the seaport of Nikolaevsk-on-Amur to the seaport of Vladivostok to the delivery base of the Amur shipyard, where its final completion will take place.

The Vasily Oshchepkov is a high-class automatic vessel. Despite its impressive dimensions and huge weight, the ferry is quite maneuverable, has thrusters on both board sides, and is able to move in different directions. The vessel is equipped with a freight elevator, onboard ramp, stern ramp, outboard ladders. Most of the devices have already been installed, tested and accepted by the customer and the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping. Works on the formation of premises within the order, testing and painting of ballast tanks, installation of stern and side devices, freight and passenger elevators are to be performed at the delivery base. Preparing and conducting of mooring tests will come next.

The ferry was towed by the tugboat Irbis and the tugboat Vostok accompanying the tug convoy.

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The cargo-and-passenger road-and-rail ferry Vasily Oshchepkov of the CNF11CPD 00300 project is the second vessel in a series of two vessels being built at the Amur shipyard.

The ferry has three cargo decks that can accommodate 30 railway wagons, 48 freight road trains and 28 passenger cars. The passenger capacity of the vessel is 150 people. The ferry has the length of 131 m, the width of  22 m, the deadweight of more than 4 thousand tons.

The ferry will be used on the ferry line between the seaport of Vanino and the seaport of Kholmsk.