A total of 10 ships are to be built for the Land of Forts project development by 2025
Two passenger catamarans of Project 04580, Kotlin, being built by Saint-Petersburg, Russia based Sredne-Nevsky Shipyard(a company of the United Shipbuilding Corporation)are to be launched in spring 2023. According to the Telegram channel of USC, a total of 10 ships are to be built under the project on the development of tourism and recreation cluster Land of Forts in Saint-Petersburg by 2025.
The construction process was inspected by the delegation of Saint-Petersburg authorities headed by Vice-Governor Kirill Polyakov as well as representatives of the customer, Neva Travel Company LLC and ANO Land of Forts. The shipyard continues the construction of the first two high-speed catamarans named Fort Kronshlot and Fort Peter I according to the schedule.
The construction is being supervised byRussian Maritime Register of Shipping. The ships will operate on the line linking Saint-Petersburg and Kronshtadt.
Kirill Polyakov emphasized the growing demand for this water route. In his opinion, the new ships will let meet that demand.
The catamarans of Kotlin design are intended for operation on inland water ways and in coastal areas. They ships’ design lets them pass under the bridges of Saint-Petersburg and enter the Gulf of Finland. The catamarans’ docking level is the same as that of the Meteors already operating on the route.
The first two passenger catamarans of Project 04580, Kotlin were laid down by Sredne-Nevsky Shipyardin March 2022. A total of 6 catamarans will be built under the contract signed on 20 December 2021 with Neva Travel LLC as the customer. The fleet of Neva Travel currently numbers 35 passenger ships of inland navigation. The company carries over 800 thousand passengers per year.
The new ships named Fort Kronshlot and Fort Peter I will operate on the line linking Saint-Petersburg with the berth of the Museum and Historical Park “Land of Forts”. The line was launched in 2021 through joint efforts of the Land of Forts and Neva Travel LLC. Until that, there were no regular link between Saint-Petersburg and the island of Kotlin for almost a decade.
The catamaran design was developed by Saint-Petersburg based design bureau Forss Technologies Maximum speed of the ship will be 31 knots (about 57 km/h).
The contract foresees the delivery of the first two ships in the navigation season of 2023 with the next two units to be delivered in the navigation season of 2024, the third pair – in May 2025.
Particulars of Project 04580 Kotlin catamaran: LOA – 32 m; BOA – 8.7 m; depth – 1.4 m; draft – 1.32 m; engines – 2х882 kW; seakeeping capability – up to 4 points; speed max – about 30 knots. Passenger capacity – up to 200 people (including individuals with disabilities), crew – 3; hull and superstructure – aluminum-magnesium alloy.
At SPIEF 2022 held in June, Land of Forts, Neva Travel and the Ministry of Industry and Trade signed an agreement on cooperation that foresees the construction of four Sommers catamarans with the delivery planned for 2024 and 2025.
Sredne-Nevsky ShipyardJSC, a part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation, was set up in 1912. The shipyard has built over 600 warships and vessels for the Russian Navy and foreign customers (13 countries worldwide). Currently, the shipyard builds missile boats, trawlers, passenger and work vessels for various purposes and is about to start the large-scale construction of mine warships of the new generation for the Russian Navy and foreign countries. Today, the shipyard is the leader of composite shipbuilding in Russia and the only plant in the country to build warships and civil vessels of 4 types of materials: composite materials, shipbuilding steel, nonmagnetic steel, aluminum and fiberglass. The shipyard has mastered the technology of building hulls of composite materials through vacuum infusion method.
