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Baltiysky Shipyard to build three new icebreakers by 2020

The new "Arktika" will be the world's most powerful icebreaker. (Ill.: Rosatomflot)

Baltiysky Shipyard in St. Petersburg will build all three of Russia’s new nuclear-powered icebreakers.

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The yard, which is part of United Shipbuilding Corporation, was the only company whose application was accepted to an open tender process for construction of the first and second serial multipurpose nuclear-powered icebreakers of Project 22220, the corporations says in a press release.

The contract, which will be signed in the nearest future, has an 85 billion rubles price tag, Rossiyskaya Gazeta writes.

The yard is already building the prototype of the new icebreaker. It was laid down in November 2013 and is planned to be ready for service in December 2017. The two next icebreakers should be ready for delivery in 2019 and 2020.

The prototype vessel, the LK-60 “Arktika” will be the world’s most powerful icebreaker. It will be 173 meters long, 34 meters wide and be able to sail in 3-meter thick ice.

Negotiations between United Shipbuilding Corporation and the customer Atomflot have been lengthy. The federal government in early 2013 allocated a total of 86,1 billion rubles for the project. However, Rosatom insisted that the two vessels should cost only 77,5 billion, an offer which was declined by the Baltiisky Yard. A second tender with an adjusted starting price of 84.4 billion rubles was announced in December 2013.