10.03.2009
Russia plans to triple orders of state ships in the next six years to 680 billion rubles ($19 billion) and build a new shipyard near the Baltic Sea port of Primorsk, Industry and Trade Minister Viktor Khristenko said Friday.
The state's spending should help shipbuilders boost their share of contracts in Russia to 28 percent, from 8 percent last year, and cushion slowing sales to companies, Khristenko said at a government meeting in St. Petersburg.
Gazprom and Rosneft will order 307 vessels over the next two decades, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said at the meeting. Another 791 transport and 265 fishing vessel orders are expected by 2030, he said.
The government plans to complete the formation of United Shipbuilding Corporation this month, hoping that the state-run enterprise can compete with foreign companies better than individual Russian shipyards, Putin said.
United Shipbuilding should focus on niche products, such as floating nuclear power stations, ice-class vessels and ships transporting commodities, Putin said.
The state's support program for the shipbuilding industry may total 136 billion rubles to 2016, Putin said.
One of the projects designed to help the industry may be the building of a shipyard near Primorsk, which would cost more than 40 billion rubles in total, Khristenko said.
The government revised its industry sales forecast to 170 billion rubles this year from 180 billion rubles, Khristenko said.
Moscow Times.
