Meanwhile things are progressing on the LNG2 plant for Novatek and the preparations for year around navigation of the NSR:
Russia is progressing on the construction of nuclear icebreakers for year-round escort serviced along the NSR:
Zvezda has yet to deliver its first ship (probably one of those Aframaxes of which three quarters was built in South Korea) and it’s already taking on the ultimate Russian halo project, the most powerful nuclear-powered icebreaker ever.
As I’ve said before, I’m afraid Project 10510 will become a kind of “white elephant” that sucks in all resources from more reasonable icebreaker construction without being much use on its own.
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The Norwegian spyship M/V Marjata (#4) is moving it’s home port away from Kirkenes on the Russian border to Harstad, which is a more “respectful” distance from the major Russian naval bases on the Kola Peninsula:
This is also the traditional northern point for major bases and NATO activity.
PS> It is not only the spyship, but the whole Military Intelligence unit that is on the move from Kirkenes.
They are not moving further South though, only across the Varangerfjord, to Vadsø:
PS> The US has a surveillance operation. (with US personnel permanently stationed) in/near Vardø.
Contract for yet another Russian nuclear ice breaker was signed in April this year:
Will this be the look of the new Russian nuclear icebreaker??:
No it won’t. That was a design study done in co-operation with students from the Saint Petersburg Art and Industry Academy.
This is the actual design for Project 10510 - a bit less functional than Project 22220, but still more or less ship-shape:
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Appears to have borrowed something from the design study, but not entirely as futuristic.
Meanwhile thing are happening in the Russian Arctic that involve more normal ships and barges:
Le Commandant Charcot drydocked in France for the installation of the ship’s twin Azipod propulsion units.
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Leaving 31.July, the hull should reach here in Ålesund (Vard Søviknes Shipyard) a few days later for her outfitting.
Activity on the Northern Sea Route (NSR) is hotting up as the ice coverage disappear:
https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/industry-and-energy/2020/07/ships-moving-arctic-sea-ice-level-reaches-record-low#:~:text=A%20key%20reason%20for%20the,Barents%20Seas%2C%20the%20researchers%20say.
edit:
Keel laying ceremony for a new class of icebreaking patrol vessels for the Russian Border Patrol (FSB) has been held at Vyborg Shipyard:
PS> The Russian Navy has two vessels of the same class under construction at another yard.
A telecom cable through the arctic, from Kirkenes, Norway to Japan and Vladivostok is planned and survey work on the route has started:
An ice breaker hull for sure.
More trouble around the new icebreaker Arkitka:
https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/arctic/2020/08/rosatomflot-files-lawsuits-against-shipyard-worlds-most-powerful-icebreakers-are#:~:text=Photo%3A%20Rosatomflot-,Rosatomflot%20files%20lawsuits%20against%20shipyard%20as%20world’s%20most%20powerful%20icebreakers,of%20troubled%20nuclear-powered%20icebreakers.
The Russians are appointing a high ranking cross-agency commission to look into protecting their interests in the Arctic in the future:
https://en.portnews.ru/news/300752/
They are even looking at building an Arctic port to service shipping along the Northern Sea Transit Corridor:
How dare they make such a provocative move to protect their own interest on their own territory and in their own EEZ?
Too many loopholes in the IMO ban on HFO in the Arctic:
Much needed renewable energy is coming to the Arctic: