MOSCOW, June 30 (RIA Novosti) - Atomic icebreakers will be able to ensure stable shipments until 2013, a Russian official said Thursday. "We will ensure shipments until 2013. There have been no problems with Arctic shipments so far," said Alexander Ushakov, an advisor with the Federal Agency for Sea and Inland Water Transport.
The 50 Let Pobedy is the only atomic icebreaker that is currently under construction in St. Petersburg, Ushakov said. Construction began in 1989.
"If we do not complete this icebreaker and build new ones, navigation in the Arctic region will be stopped," he said.
The last atomic icebreaker was built in 1992. If designs began on a new icebreaker today, it will be commissioned no sooner than 2015, Ushakov said.
"It took us six years to build an icebreaker and now it will take us at least ten years," he said.
The 2006 budget should allocate 40 million rubles to design new-generation icebreakers, he said.
Russia has the world's largest civil atomic fleet comprising seven atomic icebreakers and one barge-carrier. The fleet was created to ensure navigation along the Arctic coast.
