Russian icebreaker Viktor Chernomyrdin to be used for Arctic summer cruise sailings

The Russian diesel-electric icebreaker Viktor Chernomyrdin will be operated as a cruise ship for voyages to the Arctic during the summer months, an official of Russian port operator Rosmorport has confirmed.

Sergey Pylin, Rosmorport General Director, said the development of a transarctic transport corridor is in response to growing local demand for cruise tourism.

The Rosmorport-operated Viktor Chernomyrdin will be used during the summer when commercial ships passing through the Arctic would not be as dependent on icebreaker support compared to the rest of the year.

The planned route will take the icebreaker along the coast of the Kola Peninsula with stops at the Sredny and Rybachy peninsulas as well as the archipelagos of Novaya Zemlya and Franz Josef Land.

Delivered to Rosmorport in 2020, Viktor Chernomyrdin is the largest diesel-electric icebreaker ever built by a Russian shipyard.

The vessel boasts a length of 146.8 metres, a moulded beam of 29 metres, a minimum draught of 8.5 metres, a maximum draught of 9.7 metres, a displacement of approximately 19,070 tonnes, and space for 38 crewmembers and up to 90 passengers.

Because the vessel's draught is variable, it can sail in inland waterways and other shallow areas aside form its primary area of operations that encompasses the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Finland.