VESSEL REVIEW | City Cruise-1 – Russia's Neva Travel to operate new tour boat within Saint Petersburg

Russian transport company Neva Travel recently placed a new sightseeing vessel into service in Saint Petersburg.

Built by United Shipbuilding Corporation’s Sredne-Nevsky Shipbuilding Plant, City Cruise-1 (Сити Круиз-1; Siti Kruiz-1) is the first vessel in the Project 04240 series.

Designed for inner city navigation

The vessels are optimised for operation along small rivers and canals with a low height permitting safe passage underneath bridges, though they may also be used in inland waterways with a permissible wave height of one per cent probability up to 1.2 metres (3.9 feet) and a maximum wind speed of 17 meters (56 feet) per second.

The vessel has an LOA of 21.8 metres (71.5 feet), a beam of 5.58 metres (18.3 feet), a draught of only 0.7 metre (2.3 feet), a depth of 1.4 metres (4.6 feet), a displacement of 40.21 tonnes, two crewmembers, and seating for up to 90 passengers in an enclosed main cabin with both panoramic and overhead windows as well as on an open aft deck.

Two main engines that each produce 63 kW (84 hp) propel the vessel to speeds of up to nine knots.

The vessel may also be used as a floating venue for private events and group charters. The audio system can broadcast sound simultaneously in the cabin and on the upper deck.

One of the facilities in the cabin is a kiosk that serves snacks and beverages.

First in a new sightseeing fleet

City Cruise-1 is being operated by Neva Travel on behalf of owner Mashpromlizing. It will serve daytime river and canal excursions as well as nighttime sailings through waterways straddled by drawbridges. Another vessel from the same series will be handed over to Neva Travel before the end of this year.

Design work on the Project 04240 sightseeing vessels was completed by Saint Petersburg-based naval architecture firm Forss Technology in compliance with Russian Classification Society requirements.