Russia had to cancel the construction of two innovative icebreakers due to sanctions

The Russian state-owned company Rosmorport has terminated a contract with the Onega Shipyard for the construction of two new icebreakers worth 18.5 billion rubles ($230 million). This was reported by the Russian newspaper Vedomosti.

These are auxiliary 95-meter Icebreaker7 class icebreakers with a capacity of 12-14 MW, which are capable of moving through solid ice up to 1.5 meters thick, both on diesel fuel and LNG.

No such vessels have been built in Russia before. The agreement was signed in 2021 and canceled on July 10, 2025.

The icebreakers were scheduled to be handed over to the customer in 2024 in St. Petersburg, but the deadline was postponed to 2026. Construction has not actually begun.

From the very beginning, it was assumed that the icebreakers would be subcontracted to the Turkish shipyard Kuzey Star Shipyard, but due to sanctions after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the agreements were disrupted.

Despite the lack of work, Rosmorport has already paid the plant an advance of RUB 9.27 billion ($120 million). The company was obliged to return the money within five business days after the contract was terminated.

It was planned to use imported components for the construction, including French Azipod propeller-steering columns from ABB and main diesel generators from Wartsila.

They were also unable to purchase them due to sanctions, so now the project will have to be redesigned to replace imported components with Russian counterparts.

• On August 15, it became known that the United Shipbuilding Corporation of the Russian Federation will lay off 70% of employees Khabarovsk Shipyard (KSZ) due to the lack of orders.