Nizhny Novgorod develops program for dredging bottom of Volga River

At Red Sormovo factory, a solemn ceremony for the construction of a dredging vessel was conducted. The Governor of the region, Valery Shantsev, said that one needs to develop a program for dredging the bottom of the Volga River.

"There are difficulties in the development of shipbuilding, - said Valery Shantsev. - In particular, Oka Shipyard could receive more orders, but the shallowing of the Volga creates a number of difficulties. Thus, vessels with a draft of 1.7m are ordered less often, because it will be difficult to take them out of this place. A possibility for a vessel to leave this area exists only for a couple of months in a year. I have already instructed relevant ministries to develop a dredging program together with relevant federal agencies, as it was done before. This will give our companies an opportunity to receive more orders, achieve larger volume of production, which in turn would lead to higher wages," the governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region said. 

The contract for the construction of dredging vessels was not incidental for the factory. As Deputy Transport Minister Viktor Olersky stated, Red Sormovo was always peculiar for a high level of production and guarantees. 

"This is the first experience of deep cooperation with Dutch company Damen, especially in such difficult times as today. We have made this conscious decision, and I think that everything will be just fine. Red Sormovo is one of the flagships of the shipbuilding industry of our country in its segment," said Viktor Olersky.

The shipbuilding industry remains a priority for the Nizhny Novgorod region that produces about 15 percent of all production of Russian shipbuilding.