Nuclear-powered container ship loads up 15,000 tons of construction goods, sets course for northernmost military base

The 260 meter long vessel, the only in the world of its kind, on 22nd of April set out from Murmansk with course straight north.

On board is 14,500 tons of various goods, including concrete plates, containers, construction materials and auto vehicles, shipowner Rosatomflot informs. The delivery is conducted for client Zapsibgazprom-Gazificatsia, a company widely engaged in construction works in northern Russia

The shipload will be put on the ice near the shores of Alexandria Island, the site of Russia’s northernmost military base.

The northern parts of the Barents Sea is still covered by massive volumes of sea-ice and icebreaker “Vaigach” will provide escort the last piece to the island.

The voyage from from Murmansk to the Alexandra Island will take about three days whereupon ten days will be spent on the unloading of the goods to shore.

Another similar shipment will be conducted in May, Rosatomflot says.

The voyage to Franz Josef Land comes few days after the ship arrived from the Gulf of Ob where it delivered 20,000 tons of construction materials to Novatek’s Arctic LNG 2 project.

Later this year, the “Sevmorput” is also due to sail to Antarctica with a shipment of construction material to Russia’s research station Vostok in inland Princess Elizabeth Land.

The “Sevmorput” is the world’s only civilian nuclear-powered cargo ship. It was commissioned in 1988 and stayed mainly in port in Murmansk for two decades. In 2008, the ship was officially laid-up and in 2012 plans were presented to scrap it. In 2013, however, it was decided to renovate it and in autumn 2015 «Sevmorput» was again test-sailing in the Barents Sea.

Early this year, the «Sevmorput» underwent hull maintenance and shift of propellers in the dry-dock at Kanonerskiy yard in St. Petersburg.