Russia Developing Domestic and International Cruise Ship Industry

With Western cruise companies such as US-based Princess Cruises suspending sales of cruises to Russian citizens, Russia has begun to develop a new cruise industry designed to meet the needs of holidaymakers. In 2022, the Russian Government allocated ₽15 billion (US$164 million) for the construction of seven civilian fleet ships. Three of them will be built at one of Russia’s oldest shipyards, Krasnoye Sormovo. The main operator is expected to be the Russian company Vodokhod.

The vessels will be built using new technologies and will be able to operate in the Black, Caspian and White Seas, the Gulf of Finland, as well as on inland waterways. It is planned that the first vessel will be working in 2025, and the second and third in 2026.

The White Sea and the Gulf of Finland

In 2019, the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) presented designs for a 350-passenger Arctic liner, with helipads and possibly a casino on board. “The ship will necessarily have a helipad, an icebreaker hull, an ice belt that allows freezing into the ice, most likely propeller columns with the capability for dynamic positioning, five-star interiors for sophisticated customers. Other public areas will have a casino, if allowed” said Alexei Rakhmanov, USC’s Chairman.

Black Sea

These vessels, capable of carrying more than 2,000 passengers and 600 crew members, are designed to serve the Black Sea market, including Turkey and Georgia. Development has been delayed for now due to the situation in Ukraine.

Caspian Sea

These ships – four are being built – will be able to accommodate up to 180 passengers: 74 standard cabins (44 with a balcony), 10 deluxe cabins, 2 grand suites and 2 cabins for people with disabilities. They will be located on the main deck, middle deck, dinghy deck and sun deck. The Caspian Sea cruises will operate from the Russian home port of Makhachkala in Dagestan with calls at Aktau (Kazakhstan), Turkmenbashi (Turkmenistan), Anzali (Iran) and Baku (Azerbaijan).

Mikhail Pershin, General Director of the Krasnoye Sormovo shipyard, spoke about the modernisation of the domestic cruise fleet: “It is appropriate that Krasnoye Sormovo was one of the first shipyards to get involved in this work. Russia’s first cruise liner ‘Mustai Karim’ was built in Nizhny Novgorod, while the last ships such as the “Lenin” and “Soviet Union” were also built here in the late 1950s. Work on a new series of cruise liners will allow us to continue building up our competences in passenger shipbuilding’.

In the first half of 2024, 90 million Russians took holidays within the country, while another 20 million travelled abroad. “The demand for river cruise tourism is now obvious and, according to all forecasts, will only grow. This is well understood in the Government, so the order involves considerable sums of federal funding. New comfortable ships will help thousands of people of our country have a good rest and see the beauty of Russia” said Alexey Rakhmanov, General Director of USC.

In September 2022, Viktor Yevtukhov, Russia’s State Secretary and Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, said the Ministry would be allocating a further ₽480 billion (US$5.3 billion) from Russia’s National Welfare Fund to build between 250 and 270 new civilian ships, with final delivery to be completed by 2027.