The Southern Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Centre, a division under Russia's state-owned United Shipbuilding Corporation, has begun conducting sea trials of a new dredger ordered by local shipowner State Transport Leasing Company (STLC).
As with other Project 93.159 dredgers owned by STLC, Lotos-4 will operated by Russia's Federal Agency for Maritime and River Transportation (Rosmorrechflot).
The Project 93.159 series of bucket-wheel dredgers are designed by Dutch engineering consultancy Royal IHC but equipped exclusively with Russian-made components.
The vessels will be used by Rosmorrechflot for dredging in the Ob and Dvina Rivers as well as some of their tributaries. The development and introduction of these dredgers is in line with the Russian Government's goal of expanding the development of inland water transport.
The completed dredger will have a length of 50 metres, a beam of 11.88 metres, a maximum draught of 1.3 metres, and a maximum dredging depth of 10 metres.
The design and the dredging equipment ensure suitability for working with silt, boggy soil, clay, gravel, and sand of various grades and suspensions. A maximum of 900 cubic metres of soil can be extracted in one hour.