The solemn ceremony to lay the keel of the lead buoy vessel, project BLV04, took place on 26 November 2014 at JSC Sosnovskiy Shipyard in Sosnovka town, Kirov region.

The ceremony was attended by Deputy Head of Development and Construction of Fleet of FSUE “Rosmorport” Vladimir Akimov, Authorized Vessel Acceptance Manager of FSUE “Rosmorport” Alexander Alikin, General Director of JSC Sosnovskiy Shipbuilding Plant Murat Djuguyev, Director for Prospective Development of CJSC MIB-design-SPb, Chief Constructor of CJSC MIB-design-SPb Nikolay Avtutov, Head of the Vyatskopolyansky area Igor Trifonov, Head of Administration of the Vyatskopolyansky area Vladimir Alchikov, and also Head of Sosnovskiy municipality Denis Stupin.
FSUE “Rosmorport” owns the project for the construction of buoy vessels with ice classes, which are to be used in the seaports of Ust-Luga, Vanino and Vladivostok.

The BLV04 buoy vessel is to be designed and constructed by JSC Sosnovskiy Shipyard being the winner of the open RFP for the choice of an organization to design and construct buoy tenders with ice class of the "Shoalbuster 3009" project or the similar project for the buoy tenders having Classification Society approval for marine vessel with a length of about 30 m.

The vessel to be constructed is designed to install floating aids to navigation on seaport approaches and in its basin, to maintain their operation and remove them. Also the vessel can be used for transportation of general cargoes on deck loaded/unloaded by port facilities or vessel crane and for sea floor exploration.
 
For information:
The vessel is designed to be classed by the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping as KM  Ice 2 [1] R2-RSN AUT3-C for operation in ambient temperatures from -20ºС to +40ºС.
 
The general technical characteristics of the vessel are supposed to be the following:

Length overall Breadth overall  Midships depth Draught Tonnage Speed  Crew Special personnel  (in addition to crew)

not less than 30 m; approx. 9 m; not less than 3.5 m; approx. 3 m; approx. 350 tons; not less than 11 knots; 3 per.; 3-4 per.