Lithuania: BLRT Grupp Builds Two Multifunctional Vessels

In Lithuania, Klaipeda at shipbuilding yard Vakarų Baltijos laivų statykla was held a keel laying ceremony of two multifunctional vessels which were ordered by BLRT Grupp.

According to the head of the board of the BLRT Grupp Fjodor Berman, construction of the vessels from creation of the concept of a vessel to putting it afloat is a goal that the concern has been striving all these years. “This ceremony is a testimony that this stage has been achieved by us. Multifunctional vessels construction is one of the projects that I hope will allow us to secure our position in the serial shipbuilding segment,” he emphasized.

Construction works of the first multifunctional vessel will last for 12 months. The second vessel will be delivered to the client three months later. “Until now we have been building tow boats, ferries, fishing trawlers and specialized vessels. These multifunctional ships are the first for us. It is also important that the client is the concern himself,” said the head of Vakarų Baltijos laivų statykla Yevgeni Petrov.

Multifunctional vessels will be used for transportation of general and bulk cargo, also timber.

Their length is 89.9 m, width 14.5 m, draft 5.63 m, speed 11.4 knots, deadweight 4600 tons. Every vessel will be equipped with side pusher platform of 300 kW and main engine 8L200 Wartsila of 1600 kW and two diesel generators with a capacity of 248 kW each. According to the project, there will also be two hold compartments with capacity of 2875 m3.

The concept of the multifunctional vessel was developed and design works were executed by another company of the concern – Western Baltic Engineering. Construction will be supervised by Lloyd’s Register classification union.

Now the employees of Vakarų Baltijos laivų statykla are engaged in different projects. Two environmentally sound harbour tugs are being built for the company Svitzer and two ferries for long term client Fiskerstrand BLRT. Soon the unique project will begin: a specialized dredging vessel will be built in Lithuania under the order from Rohde Nielsen. There will also be built fishing trawlers for companies Liegruppen Fiskeri and Karstensens Skibsværf as well as barges for transportation of bulk cargo under the order from EuroStyle.

Vakarų Baltijos laivų statykla is one of the 23 subsidiaries of Vakarų laivų gamykla which controlling interest belongs to Estonian concern BLRT Grupp. In the concern there are 50 more companies in Lithuania, Estonia and Norway as well as in Latvia, Finland, Russia, Poland and Ukraine. Lithuanian companies employ ca 1850 and the concern as a whole ca 4000 employees.

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Source: BLRTGrupp, May 2, 2011.