The ice squad is leading the transit battle
At the end of January, the results of the competition "Technical and economic model of the Northern Sea Route" were summed up. The revival of the Arctic is one of the strategic directions of Russian policy. But in order to ensure our constant presence in high latitudes, it is necessary to bring to a common denominator all the factors that determine the normal development of the region - from economic to environmental. This is the life support of the Arctic, the formation of the appropriate infrastructure, and, of course, optimal transport schemes, including the use of a specialized ice-class fleet.
Russia remains the recognized leader in the global icebreaker industry. This, in particular, is confirmed by the certificate prepared for the US Congress. Let's turn to it for the sake of objectivity. According to American estimates, we have 34 icebreakers in operation, the most powerful in the world, four more are under construction, and nine are in projects. In second place is Norway with only nine vessels of this type.
“If we compare only the price of fuel, the operation of a nuclear-powered ship, twice as powerful as a diesel one, is cheaper, not to mention the ice passability”
Our icebreaker fleet allows us not only to carry out systematic escorts, but also to organize a full-fledged transport conveyor along the Northern Sea Route, which will undoubtedly contribute to the development of the entire Arctic.
Meanwhile, the lion's share of the five million tons of cargo transported along the NSR last year falls on the port of Sabetta, which is under construction, with the production of liquefied natural gas, and transit traffic has decreased.
The main route from Europe to Asia - through the Suez Canal - is three times longer than the northern route. However, transportation of a container along a long route costs from 500 to 1000 dollars, and along the Northern Sea Route it is about three times more expensive both because of icebreaker assistance and because of the size of container ships.
Delivery of cargo is cheaper, the larger the vessel to move it. The capacity of modern ocean transport is approaching 20 thousand TEU (20-foot standard containers). For example, the Tripple E-Class M / V Mrsk Mc-Kinney Mller is designed for 18 238 TEU, and recently the construction of a series of ships for 21 thousand containers under 450 meters in length and about 60 in width has begun. It is clear that such ocean giants are not for Arctic navigation, they simply do not have an ice class. In addition, today's icebreaker is not able to lay a 60-meter-wide navigable canal - we are only striving for this. But our dry cargo ships are capable of taking on board only 500 TEU. From this a colossal rise in the cost of transportation. Therefore, the developers of marine technology offer not only icebreakers, but a whole line of ice transport. In particular, our colleagues from TsNIIMF recently defended in the Ministry of Transport a project of a container ship for Arctic navigation with a capacity of 3000 TEU.
It is more convenient with two transfers
Now it is important to understand how to most efficiently organize a through passage along the Northern Sea Route. If tankers, bulk carriers, ice-class container ships are used for this, they are unlikely to be competitive in transit. On "clean water" such ships lose. They are more metal-consuming and energy-consuming (with high fuel consumption), they have excess power for "pure water". On the other hand, the entire northern route from Europe to Asia is 7200 miles, and only half of it passes in harsh ice conditions: from the Kara Gates Strait to Provideniya Bay. Therefore, TsNIIMF proposes a new transportation algorithm - with the transshipment of cargo and the arrangement of two hubs: Murmansk and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, to which ordinary ships can ply. The construction of large ports at the entrance to the Kola Bay and in Kamchatka will in itself significantly boost the development of territories in both the North and the Far East.
In a word, it is necessary to create a transit system for the Northern Sea Route. Here we have infrastructure, bunkering bases, intermediate ports, navigation, and rescue support. Moreover, the northern route, according to statistics, is the safest. In the entire history of operation, only eight ships and one person (a member of the crew of the Chelyuskin motor ship) died here.
Of course, northern transportation requires investment, a normal economic model is needed, coupled with a global cargo base and aimed at making the route competitive both in terms of time and cost. It's worth investing in this business.
We have just summed up the results of the "Technical and Economic Model of the Northern Sea Route" competition, in which the project of the Analytical Center under the Government of the Russian Federation won. I hope this will be a noticeable step towards a comprehensive understanding of the economy of the Arctic route.
From "Moscow" to "Novorossiysk"
It is gratifying that the country's top leadership responded to the alarm in time: by the beginning of the 21st century, the icebreaker fleet built in the Soviet era had significantly depleted its intended resource. And when transporting goods along the most difficult section of the Northern Sea Route, ice escorting is indispensable even with the most global warming. And in recent years, we have seen a revival of the domestic icebreaker industry.
The first signs were two 16-megawatt icebreakers, which were built with the help of the Central Research Institute of Krylov in 2008-2009 at the Baltic Shipyard: "St. Petersburg" and "Moscow". They have the most advanced diesel-electric installation, modern equipment, azimuth rotary thrusters. This is a new direction in the design of civil ships, by the way, gradually gaining a place in military shipbuilding. Efficient body shape, well proven in service. The sailors say the icebreakers are successful.
The design project of the exterior of the project 10510 nuclear icebreaker (LK-110Ya, code "Leader") was developed in cooperation with the Central Design Bureau "Iceberg". Photo: cont.ws
Vyborg Shipyard continued this series, already somewhat modernized. The hull lines remain the same, but the power has been increased from 16 to 18 megawatts, and everything above the upper deck has been re-arranged. If "Moscow" and "Petersburg" (project 21900) have a classic helipad at the stern, then in the updated model (project 21900 m) it was moved to the tank. The stern part, where a powerful towing winch is installed, is freed for associated cargo. The re-layout provided new functionality, as the customer wanted. The lead icebreaker "Vladivostok" and the first serial icebreaker - "Murmansk" have already taken over the watch. The third side - "Novorossiysk" was launched and after testing will go to the port of registry at the end of this year. Each such two-deck 119-meter conductor with a displacement of 14, 3 thousand tons of unlimited navigation area is able to overcome ice 1.5 meters thick.
Museums and concepts
Navigation through two-meter ice will be provided by the most powerful (25 MW) diesel-electric icebreaker Viktor Chernomyrdin, project 22600, with a length of 146 meters and a displacement of over 22 thousand tons, which is being built at the Baltic Shipyard.
Our experts have calculated that the maximum power of diesel-electric icebreakers is 30 megawatts, if more, the vessels become simply unprofitable. The fact is that their fuel consumption is 200 grams per kilowatt / hour, and it turns out that most of the deadweight will be consumed by fuel. It is no coincidence that the hard workers "Captain Dranitsyn", "Captain Sorokin", "Captain Khlebnikov" and "Captain Nikolaev", built during the Soviet era, are 16 megawatt.
No matter what anyone says, you can't do without nuclear icebreakers. If we compare only the price of fuel, the operation of a nuclear-powered ship, which is twice as powerful as a diesel one, is cheaper. Not to mention the ice permeability. In short, the only opportunity to develop Arctic transit and active economic activity in the Arctic is icebreakers with nuclear reactors.
Now in Russia there are eight nuclear-powered ships: "Arctic", which took over the polar watch in 1975, "Siberia" (1977), "Russia" (1985), "Taimyr" (1989), "Soviet Union" (1990), "Vaygach" (1990), Yamal (1993) and 50 Years of Victory (2007).
"Soviet Union" is under repair, there is a proposal to convert it into the command center of the Arctic group of the Ministry of Defense (for more details - "VPK", №№ 3-4, 2016). The "grandfather" of the nuclear icebreaker fleet "Lenin" (1959) became a museum in Murmansk. We hope that the Arktika will also be museumified, which, like the Siberia, has been decommissioned.
The lead nuclear-powered submarine LK-60, which is being built at the Baltic Shipyard, has already been named after Arktika. This is a serious project of the Iceberg Central Design Bureau and the Krylov Scientific Center. At the request of the customer, in addition to our research, control tests were carried out twice in foreign experimental ice pools, in particular in Hamburg. All parameters declared by the State Research and Development Center were confirmed. LK-60 with a length of 173 meters and a displacement of more than 33 thousand tons will become the largest and most powerful icebreaker in the world (two-reactor RITM-200 - 2x175 MW). Thanks to the double-draft design, it will be able to operate in the western region of the Arctic - in the Barents, Pechora and Kara Seas, and in the shallower parts of the mouth of the Yenisei and Ob Bay. And the 34-meter hull width will make it possible to single-handedly carry tankers with a displacement of up to 70 thousand tons in the Arctic, breaking three-meter ice at a constant speed. In a word, this is a modern vessel that meets the requirements of the second half of the 21st century. With rhythmic funding, shipbuilders will be able to build three new nuclear-powered ships by 2020-2021.
The working portfolio includes a promising project "Leader". It is a universal nuclear-powered ship of classical shape, more than 200 meters long and about 47 meters wide. The power plant's capacity is 110-120 megawatts. It will be able to lay a 50-meter-wide shipping channel for large ocean transport.
The conceptual design is made in two versions: two- and four-shaft. Tests have been carried out, the cost of the icebreaker has been approximately estimated. When the government decree on construction comes out, there will be a technical project.
Captains for the Arctic
It should be noted that icebreaking is one of the science-intensive industries where the most advanced developments and dual-purpose ideas are accumulated. For example, the project of a two- or four-hull icebreaker. It will be able to provide a 60-meter channel even with less power and will cost less accordingly. More options: an icebreaker with an asymmetric hull or an ultra-maneuverable one with an additional propeller in the bow end, capable of going almost sideways. This is being built in Finland for Sabetta.
One of the eternal tasks of shipbuilders is to slow down corrosion. In Arctic conditions, it "eats" almost 0.1 millimeter of the ship's hull per year. To save metal, we have proposed an optimal ratio of physical, magnetic and static fields with a specific arrangement of protectors, supply of the appropriate current. The Krylov Center supplies this know-how to the Navy. The same applies to the electromagnetic compatibility of the latest sophisticated systems, without which it is impossible to imagine a modern ship.
A landmark event in the design of marine technology was the opening of the world's most modern experimental Arctic basin at the Krylov Scientific Center. The old one - 36 meters long and 6 meters wide - was already inferior in capabilities to its competitors in Helsinki and Hamburg. The length of the new one with additional cameras is about 100 meters with an active 80-meter "field". Practically everything is feasible here: speed tests, maneuverability tests, ice load tests for both stationary and anchored platforms. You can even observe ice creeping on the object at very low speeds … And the offshore basin under construction will allow modeling and comparing both the wind load, and the system of currents with velocity stratification in depth, and three-dimensional waves. The only similar object in the world is the "Marino" in Holland.
We will have an ultramodern sea-going swimming pool 160 by 35 meters under the same roof as the offshore one. This unique experimental complex should strengthen our leadership position.
The new Polar Code introduces the concept of an “ice captain” with appropriate qualifications. Anticipating the need for such specialists, we have opened a simulator center for the training of navigators, close to real conditions. The State University of Maritime and River Fleet named after Admiral Makarov prepares a training program, provides instructors and awards certificates. And the training itself takes place at our base, where you can practice the actions of one or several ship crews in difficult ice conditions. Trainings are conducted simultaneously on six bridges: two - with all-round visibility, like in transports, and four "icebreaker" ones with 180-degree visibility. Captains can practice interaction with ships both in a convoy and during sea operations (maneuvering, towing, rescue) both in Arctic conditions and during various waves.
The complex also makes it possible to train the crews of platforms, tankers and support vessels on real models during the shipment of oil and oil products. There is no similar simulator anywhere in the world. Moreover, it was created by Russian developers and all the software is domestic.
This proves once again: if we do not save on serious science and experimental base, we will overcome the current lag in a number of areas in the shortest possible time and take leading positions. How it happens in icebreaker construction.
Help "VPK"
Hummock track
The shortest route between European ports and the Far East, passing through the four Arctic seas (Kara, Laptev, East Siberian and Chukotka), was called the Northeast Passage for a long time, and only at the beginning of the 20th century it received its modern name. The ice part of the NSR, from the Kara Vorota Strait to Provideniya Bay, is 5600 kilometers.
For the first time the Northern Sea Route was traversed from west to east in 1878-1879 by the Swedish expedition of Niels Nordenskjold. Moreover, the vessel, trapped in ice, was forced to winter just 200 kilometers from the Bering Strait - the rest of the way after being freed from "captivity" was overcome in two days.
The hydrographic expedition led by Boris Vilkitsky on the icebreaking ships Taimyr and Vaigach in 1914–1915 became the first Russian expedition that managed to pass the NSR, but also in two navigations, with wintering near the Taimyr Peninsula.
In one navigation, the NSR was first passed by an expedition led by Otto Schmidt on board the Sibiryakov ship in 1932. At the same time, the Main Directorate of the Northern Sea Route (Glavsevmorput) was created in the USSR, which played a huge role during the Great Patriotic War. This route was used to escort the warships of the Pacific Fleet to the Barents Sea, as well as to transport coal, timber and other national economic goods.
The NSR was opened for international shipping in 1991.
In recent years, interest in the track has been growing, which is facilitated by a warming climate. Over the past 40 years, the ice area in the Arctic has almost halved, and the period of icebreaker-free navigation in the northern seas has significantly increased. If earlier it lasted from July to September, now it is from June to November. But the number of commercial ships passing the Northern Sea Route is still in the tens, not thousands, as through the Suez Canal.
