Arctic Shipbuilding and Repair Center Planned in Murmansk

A facility for shipbuilding and repair in Russia’s Arctic will be set up in the Murmansk Region by three affiliates of the state-run United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC), Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov told reporters on Friday, according to Izvestia.

“We have finalized the decision with USC and the Murmansk Region actually today on consolidation of three enterprises… to set up the Arctic Shipbuilding and Repair Center on the basis of these enterprises,” Manturov said.

This will make possible to consolidate resources, optimize costs, improve manageability and concentrate resources in these enterprises, he added.

The minister chaired the meeting of the coordination council of the industry on the topic of the defense industry diversification earlier on Friday.

“Key mechanisms of the federal government support are already working. The share of nondefense products in the total output of defense companies reached almost 21%, above the annual targets,” Manturov said.

Establishment of the Arctic shipbuilding and ship repair center will enable attracting investments into the regional economy and creating extra jobs, the Governor of the Murmansk Region Andrei Chibis told the media.

“Competencies available with us, existing capacities and the demand we currently have owing to major investments projects – all that supports the demand and capacity utilization. Our task is to make it so that the real ship repair center with the parent entity in the Murmansk Region appears with us,” the Governor said.

Manturov also announced that a test range for oil and gas and mining equipment for the Arctic Region will be created in Murmansk in 2023.