SEVMORPUT LASH carrier-container ship

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aukepalmhof
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Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 1:28 am

SEVMORPUT LASH carrier-container ship

Post by aukepalmhof » Sun Mar 31, 2019 7:36 pm

Built as a nuclear LASH carier/container vessel under yard No 401 by Zaliv Shipyard, Kerch, Ukraine for the Russian Soviet Union.
30 May 1978 ordered.
01 June 1982 laid down.
20 February 1986 launched as the SEVMORPUT.
Tonnage 38,276 gt, 11,468 net, 33,980 dwt, dim. 260.30 x 32.20 x 18.30m, length bpp 236.6m, draught 11.80m.
Powered by KTL-40nuclear reactor, 135 MW, single shaft, speed 20.8 knots.
Cargo capacity for 74 lighters of 300 ton each or 1,328 TEU’s
31 December 1988 completed. IMO No 8729810.

SEVMORPUT (Russian: Севморпуть, IPA: [sʲɪvmɐrˈputʲ]) is a Russian nuclear-powered icebreaking LASH carrier and container ship. Named after the Northern Sea Route (Russian: Северный Морской Путь, Severny Morskoy Put), the 1988-built ship is one of only four nuclear-powered merchant ships ever built. After having been laid up in Murmansk for years awaiting disposal, the vessel was extensively refitted and returned to service in 2016.[2][3][4]

Development and construction
The history of SEVMORPUT dates back to a joint decision by the Ministry of the Merchant Marine (MORFLOT) and the Ministry of Shipbuilding Industry of the Soviet Union, No C-13/01360, which was signed on 30 May 1978. Following the development of heavy industry in the northern parts of the country, particularly around Norilsk, a reliable transportation method was needed to guarantee year-round shipments of cargo and supplies to and from the northern communities. Experiences from the nuclear icebreakers operating on the Northern Sea Route since the mid-1950s had shown the advantages of nuclear marine propulsion in the ice-infested waters of the Russian Arctic. Thus a decision was made to construct a new icebreaking LASH carrier, capable of serving high-volume shallow ports, that was powered by a nuclear reactor. The ship was designed by the Baltsudoproect Central Design Bureau. The keel of "Project 10081" was laid on 1 June 1982 at Zaliv Shipyard in Kerch, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. She was launched on 20 February 1986 and delivered to state-owned Murmansk Shipping Company (MSCO) on 31 December 1988. After leaving the shipyard SEVMORPUT sailed through the Mediterranean and around Africa until finally reaching the Soviet Far East.
The overall price of the nuclear-powered cargo ship was reported to be around US$265 million.

Career
After entering service SEVMORPUT was denied entry to four major ports in the Soviet Far East. Authorities in Nakhodka, Vostochny, Magadan and Vladivostok refused to accept the two-month-old ship into their ports due to popular protests. In addition the harbour workers also refused to load or unload any cargo or provide any port services due to fears of radiation leakage. This was caused by uncertainty about the safety of the ship's nuclear propulsion system and the shadow of the Chernobyl disaster only few years earlier. The local newspapers had also reported a four-minute emergency on board the nuclear icebreaker ROSSIYA only a week before the arrival of SEVMORPUT. The ship was finally allowed to dock at Vladivostok on 13 March 1989.
The initial plan was to utilize SEVMORPUT in international transport, and the Soviet government applied for a permission to have the ship make several stops in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, in March 1990. However, the permission was denied because the evacuation and emergency response measures of the city were not deemed adequate in case of an accident involving the ship's nuclear reactor. Later the ship was mainly used on the Murmansk-Dudinka route, but also made several trips to Vietnam in the early 1990s. The daily operating expenses of SEVMORPUT were reportedly around US$90,000 and she was not expected to make profit during the first two years of her career.
In the late 1990s, SEVMORPUT was laid up in Murmansk due to delays in the refueling of her reactor.[ The refueling finally took place in 2001 and later the ship resumed service on the Dudinka route.
In August 2007, it was reported that SEVMORPUT would be converted into the world's first nuclear-powered drillship due to lack of demand for cargo operators for lighters and the need of specialized drilling vessels in the Russian Arctic. The conversion at the Zvezdochka plant in Severodvinsk was to take only 18 months. However, the renovation project was revoked in February 2008.
The management of the Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker fleet was transferred from MSCO to Rosatom in 2008. In October 2009, the general director of Atomflot announced that SEVMORPUT could remain in service for 15 years.
In late October 2012, it was reported that SEVMORPUT, which had been lying idle at the Atomflot base outside Murmansk since 2007, had been removed from the Russian Ship Register in July and would be sold for scrap. However, in December 2013 it was reported that the decision to decommission the nuclear-powered ship had been cancelled and that the vessel would be brought back to service by February 2016. In November 2015, SEVMORPUT left Murmansk for the first time in years to carry out sea trials in the Barents Sea.
Since returning to service in 2016, the world's only nuclear-powered cargo ship has been chartered by the Russian Ministry of Defence for transporting cargo related to the development of military infrastructure in the Arctic.

General characteristics
SEVMORPUT is 260.30 metres (854.0 ft) long overall and 236.60 metres (776.2 ft) between perpendiculars. The breadth and depth of her hull are 32.20 metres (105.6 ft) and 18.30 metres (60.0 ft), respectively. When loaded to the summer waterline, the ship draws 11.80 metres (38.7 ft) of water. However, in ice-infested waters she operates with a slightly smaller draught of 10.65 metres (34.9 ft) to improve the icebreaking characteristics of her raked stem. The gross tonnage of SEVMORPUT is 38,226 and net tonnage 11,468. The ship's deadweight tonnage is 33,980 tons at maximum draught and 26,480 tons while operating at reduced draught in ice. Her maximum displacement is 61,880 tons.
Although originally designed according to the USSR Register of Shipping rules of 1981 to the highest Soviet ice class available for merchant ships, ULA, SEVMORPUT is currently classified by the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping with a slightly lower ice class, UL. In addition to the national rules she was built according to the latest international regulations and conventions at the time, becoming the first ship built according to the Code of Safety for Nuclear Merchant Ships adopted by the International Maritime Organization in 1981. Special attention was paid to the safety aspects of the vessel and, in addition to running aground or colliding with the reinforced bow of an icebreaker, the Soviet naval architects even took into account the possibility of a passenger aircraft crashing on SEVMORPUT.

Power and propulsion
SEVMORPUT is powered by a single KLT-40 nuclear fission reactor with a thermal output of 135 megawatts. The reactor core contains 150.7 kilograms (332 lb) of 30–40- or 90-percent enriched uranium in uranium-zirconium alloy and has required refueling only once. The nuclear power plant on board the vessel produces 215 tons of steam per hour at a pressure level of 40 atm (4,100 kPa) and temperature of 290 °C (554 °F). In case of emergency steam can also be produced by a diesel-powered boiler (50 t/h, 2,450 kPa, 360 °C).
Unlike the Russian Arktika- and Taymyr-class nuclear-powered icebreakers, which have three fixed-pitch propellers and utilize nuclear-turbo-electric powertrain, SEVMORPUT is propelled by a single 4-bladed ducted controllable-pitch propeller mechanically coupled to a steam turbine, GTZA 684 OM5, which has a maximum output of 29,420 kW (39,450 hp) and turns the 6.7-metre (22 ft) propeller at 115 rpm. At full power the propulsion system gives the ship a maximum speed of 20.8 knots (38.5 km/h; 23.9 mph) at a draught of 10 metres (33 ft). She can also maintain a speed of 2 knots (3.7 km/h; 2.3 mph) in 1-metre (3.3 ft) thick level ice.
For electricity production SEVMORPUT has three 1,700 kW turbogenerators and three 2,000 kW standby diesel generators. In addition in case of blackout the vessel also has two 200 kW emergency diesel generators.

Cargo capacity and handling
SEVMORPUT can carry 74 lighters, each with a cargo capacity of 300 tons, in six holds and in two layers on the stern deck. The cargo hold hatches are designed for lighters with a total weight of 450 tons. The lighters are loaded and unloaded with a large gantry crane, manufactured by KONE, with a span of 21.3 metres (70 ft) and lifting capacity of 500 tons. The gantry crane has two three-ton auxiliary cranes.
When not carrying lighters, SEVMORPUT can carry both 20- and 40-foot containers weighing up to 20.3 and 30.5 tons, respectively, in three layers. The total container capacity of the ship is 1,328 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU). While loading and unloading are usually done by shore-based cranes, a small number of containers can be handled with two container attachments to the gantry crane in ports that do not have cranes capable of handling containers. The lifting capacity of the attachments is 38 tons. In addition, the vessel has two 16-ton and two 3.2-ton cranes.

2019 In service, same name, homeport Murmansk.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SEVMORPUT
Niger 2018 800f sg?, scott?
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2018 sevmorput.jpg

aukepalmhof
Posts: 7771
Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 1:28 am

Re: SEVMORPUT LASH carrier-container ship

Post by aukepalmhof » Fri Dec 04, 2020 7:33 pm

Nuclear-powered carrier returns from South-Atlantic after propeller blade fell off

Mission aborted: Russia’s new complex for the expanded Vostok Antarctica station will be delayed by a year as SEVMORPUT has to turn back to St. Petersburg after sailing zigzag outside Angola for a month. Time is running out for delivery of 5,000 tons of containers and modules for the Vostok station to Antarctica. Sevmporput had an estimated arrival at Prydz Bay on the eastern shores of the continent on November 20. However, since mid-October, the giant nuclear-powered container carrier has sailed zigzag outside the Angolan coast in the South-Atlantic with a broken propeller. Rosatomflot, the operator of Russia’s state-owned fleet of civilian nuclear-powered vessels, chose to keep silent about the trouble and has not answered any questions on the issue from The Barents Observer. Social media sites, however, had a lively debate about the reasons for the breakdown. As previously reported, it became clear that a propeller blade had fallen off. Divers flew to Angola to assist in cutting off a second blade in hope of restoring the balance. Since the ship is nuclear-powered it couldn’t make a port call, but had to stay outside the 12-nautical miles off the coast. Now, newspaper Kommersant can inform that the divers’ repair attempts were unsuccessful and as the time-window for reaching the Antarctica summer season is about to close, it is decided to call Sevmorput home. The giant ship will sail to St. Petersburg to unload the modules and containers, before entering dry-dock for repairs. Icebreaker KAPITAN DRANITSYN, which left Murmansk on September 27th and teamed up with SEVMORPUT in the Atlantic the second week of October, has set sail for home. The icebreaker waited a few days when SEVMORPUT got troubled outside Angola but soon continued lonely on the voyage south to King Håkon VII Sea, off the coast of Queen Maud Land in Antarctica two weeks ago. Onboard are 98 specialists and construction workers for the Vostok station. On Thursday, however, the ship is outside Cape Town with a northbound course and the destination is no longer Antarctica, but St. Petersburg according to MarineTraffic.com. Port call to St. Petersburg is set to be December 31, much longer than such a voyage from South Africa normally would take. It is likely because the icebreaker will assist SEVMORPUT which has reduced speed and maneuverability. It is still a mystery of how SEVMORPUT could lose a propeller blade at deep-water in the mid-Atlantic. The ship was docked in St. Petersburg in January this year, shafts were shifted and other maintenance work carried out. A full survey of the hull, propeller, and shafts was done. This is a very strong propeller system designed to sail in ice-covered waters in the Arctic. Sevmorput (Russian abbreviation for Northern Sea Route) is 32-year old and is powered by a single reactor of the KLT-40 type, similar to the reactor onboard the icebreakers TAYMYR and VAYGACH.
The vessel is well suited to deliver cargo along the north coast of Siberia, where little harbor infrastructure is developed. Sailing in the ice, lighters and other cargo can be unloaded on the ice outside the coast and towed to shore on the ice by trucks or bulldozers. But that wasn’t either a big success in the troubled economic period following the break-up of the Soviet Union. For several periods in the 1990s and 2000s, the ship stayed in port in Murmansk for years without sailing. In 2008, the ship was officially laid-up and in 2012 the plan was to scrap it. In 2013, however, it was decided to do renovation and in autumn 2015, the ship was again test-sailing the Barents Sea. The following year, Sevmorput was back in regular service and has in the lastest years delivered cargo to military installations in the Russian Arctic, as well as to the petroleum development along the Siberian coast. The equipment has been delivered to the Pavlovsk lead-zink mine development on Novaya Zemlya, and both in 2019 and in 2020, voyages with seafood cargo have taken place between Petropavlovsk in the Far East and St. Petersburg via the Northern Sea Route and around Scandinavia. Sevmorput can carry 74 lighters or 1324 containers. After a 2015 upgrade and safety evaluation, the reactor’s service life was prolonged with 150,000 hours aimed at keeping the vessel in operation until 2024. The Vostok (восток means East in Russian) research station is located at the geomagnetic South Pole in Princess Elizabeth Land, which is the eastern part of the continent. Russia’s new Vostok-II research station was displayed in St. Petersburg before departure earlier in October. The station was founded by the Soviet Union in 1957. The first buildings are long gone under the snow that accumulates by about 7 cm a year in this part of Antarctica. New buildings were later erected, but nothing near the new modern complex now underway onboard Sevmorput. The modules are supposed to be put ashore at the Russian Progress station on the shore of Prydz Bay. The transport to the inland Vostok will be pulled by snow-tractors. Financially, the new research station and its transportation are carried out on the basis of a public-private partnership with Novatek, Russia’s largest private-owned natural gas company producing LNG in Sabetta on the Yamal Peninsula and currently constructing the giant Kola Yard in Belokamenka outside Murmansk.

Source: By Thomas Nilsen, Barents Observer. DAILY COLLECTION OF MARITIME PRESS CLIPPINGS 2020 – 339

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