The Sakhalin and Kurile islands surround the cold, remote, geologically unstable and windy Sea of Okhotsk, which lies in far eastern Siberia to the north of Japan's Hokkaido island. It is a tough and testing environment for any vessel that has to operate there. Russia's Marine Engineering Bureau (MEB) is very experienced in designing very successful ships for operations in such difficult places. This very impressively rugged and versatile new ship will serve its owners and the people of those remote places very well.
"Admiral Nevelskoy has improved icebreaking capability, thanks to its Arc4 ice class notation, and increased manoeuvrability compared to existing vessels," MEB told Baird Maritime. "The capacity of the hold is also an improvement over existing vessels at 895 cubic metres compared to only 208 to 215 cubic metres on other ships. There are even cabins for passengers with disabilities."
MEB said the main challenge lay in combining high ice capability with the ability to navigate safely in more open waters. The existing ports in the Kuril Islands also presented limitations to allowable dimensions, but these nonetheless needed to be overcome to satisfy customers' need for increased passenger and cargo capacities and improved comfort. This was addressed partly through the thorough work that went into designing the interior spaces.
MEB added that although different geographical regions will manifest different trends that will influence Ro-Pax and Ro-Ro vessel design, selection of the proper fuel type will be a common concern.
"We believe the coming years will see an increase in the number of Ro-Pax and Ro-Ro vessels capable of running on alternative fuels," the company told Baird Maritime.
