Alexey Belogoryev, Research and Development Director of the Institute for Energy and Finance, commented to the newspaper Vedomosti on the role of the Zvezda shipbuilding plant for the Russian market and its export prospects.
Alexey Belogoryev notes that Zvezda can build vessels with a deadweight of up to 350,000 tons and a length of up to 250–400 meters. Vessels are in high demand in modern maritime transport, especially for oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG), the expert notes.
Without the serial production of ice‑class oil and gas tankers, which the plant has mastered, year‑round transportation of hydrocarbons along the Northern Sea Route (NSR) and the development of shipping in its eastern sector would be impossible, Belogoryev says. Since 2022, this has been the only source of such tankers for Russian companies.
After the tightening of anti‑Russian sanctions, the shipyard has no competitors left in supplying vessels to the domestic market, Belogoryev notes. Cooperation between Russian companies and South Korean shipyards Samsung Heavy Industries and Hanwha Ocean has been severed, and interaction with Chinese shipyards is still difficult due to the risks of secondary sanctions, he notes. There is nowhere else for Russian companies to buy the types of vessels that Zvezda produces, the expert emphasizes.
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