The current economical crisis in Russia has already affected the shipbuilding industry. Official statistics released last year by the country's shipyards indicated an increase in the share of military orders.
Last year orders from the Russian navy and military orders from foreign customers accounted for 80 per cent of the total revenue of the industry, compared to 62 per cent in 2013.
At the same time, the volume of orders in the civil segment last year dropped by 40 per cent year-on-year. As a result, the total number of executed civil orders last year was 112, while in the military segment this figure amounted to 65.
Notably, last year the total revenue of the Russian shipbuilding industry jumped by about 5 per cent, as the new orders from the Russian navy usually were several times bigger than in the civil segment.
At the same time, certain figures were not available, as the Russian navy usually does not disclose the cost of contracts with the country's shipyards. It is expected that this year that tendency will continue, as the Russian navy continues to implement a large-scale program of the modernisation of its fleet, which recently has been added with subprograms like an increase of investment in the Arctic and Black Sea fleets.
Russian experts forecast that in coming years the country's shipbuilding industry may also face an increase in foreign orders for the construction of military vessels, including from Asian countries like China, Vietnam and India, and also South American countries. Experts said this could be attributed to the recent devaluation of the Russian ruble, which decreased the cost of orders in dollars at the Russian shipyards on average by 1.5 times compared to the level of 2013.
By Vladislav Vorotnikov