Latest nuclear-powered icebreaker steams north
Russia's newest icebreaker will on Friday for the first time sail inside the Arctic Circle on her way to Murmansk.
Built at the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg, the Yakutiya is the fourth in the class of Project 22220 nuclear-powered icebreakers.
The powerful vessel is Thursday evening sailing the coast of Helgeland outside Norway and has estimated arrival in Murmansk on Sunday, April 13, according to the tracking portal MarineTraffic.com.
The Yakutiya will not stay for long in Murmansk and is expected to continue north into the Kara Sea to join other icebreakers clearing the way for LNG-tankers sailing out from Sabetta on the Yamal Peninsula with gas to markets, both in Europe and Asia.
The new icebreaker is the fourth in the class of Project 22220, following the Arktika, Ural and Sibir. Two more, the Chukotka and Leningrad is under construction at the Baltic Shipyard, while the Stalingrad is planned to be laid down later this year.
Visiting Murmansk in late March, dictator Vladimir Putin said Russia's push for more shipping along the icy waters of the Northern Sea Route could be compared with the building of the Trans-Siberia railroad more than hundred years ago.
"It addressed not only the country’s immediate needs and circumstances but also took into account our national interests within a horizon of several centuries. We must be guided by this approach as we develop the Trans-Arctic corridor," Putin said in his speech to the Arctic Dialogue conference.
More shipping requires more icebreakers.
Unlike the three previous icebreakers of the Project 22220, which had both Western and Ukrainian made part, the Yakutiya is built with engines and technology from Russia. With sanctions implemented after 2022 and the engine factory in Ukraine bombed, the shipyard had to look for import substitutes domestically.
“The sanctions restrictions that we faced did not prevent us from ensuring high-quality and timely construction of the order,” said Deputy General Director Andrei Buzinov with the Baltic Shipyard at the launching ceremony in St. Petersburg last December.
With Yakutiya now joining the fleet, Russia operates eight nuclear powered icebreakers.
