St. Petersburg Northern Wharf Hands Second Valdai Class Bulk Carrier over to Czech Company

On Monday, the Northern Wharf shipbuilding company of St. Petersburg owned by the New Programmes and Concepts holding group handed The St. Prince Vladimir, the second Valdai class universal bulk carrier over to the Czechska Ladenica company. According to the press service of the North-Western Ship Lines, the bulk carrier is built for the Czech Republic in payment of the debt owed to the country by the former USSR.

The previous such vessel, the St. Apostle Andrewwas completed for the Czech company in late November this year. The river-sea Valdai class bulk carriers were developed by the Vympel design bureau of Nizhny Novgorod. The vessels are 128 m long and 17 m wide. Its loading capacity is 3,580 tonnes in fresh and 4,800 tonnes in salt water. The vessels are intended to deliver, without reloading, general and bulk cargoes from central Russia to seaports in Europ, Asia, and Africa. One such vessel costs about USD 5.5 million.

The total estimated debt owed by the former USSR to Czechia comes to USD 3.6 billion. At this time, 5 more similar bulk carriers are being built at the wharf for Czechia, the first of them to be completed around June 2003.

The Northern Wharf shipbuilding company was founded on November 14, 1912. Its principal stockholders include the New Programmes and Concepts holding company (53.46%), the Federal Properties Fund of Russia (20.96%), and the Rinako company (18.85%).