Kosaya Liniya 16, 199106 St. Petersburg, Russia Phone: +7 812 324 92 54 Fax: +7 812 327 71 90 E-mail: marketing@bz.ruBaltiysky Zavod (Baltic Shipyard) is situated in the South-Western part of the Vassilievski Island on the Big Neva embankment in St.Petersburg. Of the three main shipyards in the city - Severnaya Verf, Baltiysky Zavod and Admiralteyskiye Verfi - Baltiysky primarily builds large nuclear ships, while Severnaya specializes in smaller non-nuclear ones and Admiralteyskiye in submarines. Founded in May of 1856, Baltiysky is one of the oldest shipbuilding yards of Russia and one of the three major Russian shipyards.
One of the leading enterprises of the defense industry of the former Soviet Union, Baltiysky Zavod, after the disintegration of the USSR, became the only shipyard in Russia capable of constructing commercial vessels with full displacement up to 100,000 tons. Baltiysky shipyard is self contained and has the facilities of all necessary supporting industries: engineering department, woodwork production, marine machine building, power engineering, metallurgical production, research and development department and the shipyard itself with three slipways.
Its slipways launched Russia's first all-metal warship, submarine and battleships. Baltiysky Zavod was the precursor of today's shipbuilding design bureaus Rubin, Malachite and Nevskoye. Today, all Russian nuclear-powered icebreakers and nuclear-powered surface warships are assembled by the Baltiysky Zavod JSC. Baltiysky Zavod is a supplier of nuclear-powered Icebreakers and naval ships as well as Ro-Ros, dry bulk and chemical carners, special duty ships. It manufactures a wide range of marine products: propellers and blades, shafts, bollers, heat exchangers, fittings. The Yard specializes in modular cabin and furniture production as well as special marine wood items of custom design.
In 1997 UNEXIM Bank, one of the largest Russian banks, bought controlling shares in two of St. Petersburg's largest shipyards: Baltiysky Zavod and Severnaya Shipyard. In December 1997, UNEXIM Bank established the holding company-Baltic Shipyards Inc. The objective of the company is to purchase equipment and materials for the vessels under construction at the shipyards.
In the summer of 1998 there were some financial difficulties of the shipyard caused by the debts of the Yard to Russia's Federal Budget. At the same time, the Russian Government owed Baltiysky for the construction of an atomic icebreaker and an atomic cruiser. However, as of the summer of 1998, the shipyard's management had reasons to believe that they would finish the year without debts.
As of 1998 the largest orders included the construction of containerships for Siowalls AB (Sweden), chemical tankers for another Scandinavian firm, and the construction of three frigates for the Indian Navy. The contract between the government of India and Baltiysky was signed through Rosvooruzhenie. The total contract amount was about USD 1 billion and included three 4,000-ton warships equipped with advanced-guidance missiles, a bombing complex, and a facility for helicopters. However, the August 1998 financial crisis apparently ruined all previous cost estimates, and in the fall of 1998, Baltiysky found itself with a contract but no financing to go ahead with the construction. It was reported that in February 1999, Baltiysky's management was still appealing to various Russian governmental and international financial agencies for credits to fulfill this order.
After several months delay, in early 1999 Baltiysky Zavod started the construction of three war frigates for the Indian Navy. The order for these warships was placed by the Indian Government in 1997. The building of the first frigate was initially scheduled for 1998, but after the August crisis, Baltiysky faced a critical lack of funds to start construction and began to look for credit sources. On March 12, 1999, Baltiysky's managers announced that the financial problem had been resolved and held an official ceremony of laying the keel of the first warship for India.
After several difficult months of uncertainty about Baltiysky's future, the shipyard made a very important step forward by starting to work on India's order. Baltiysky's success in attracting a lender can mean the revival of the yard's other international contract orders and an opportunity to stabilize the firm's financial position by receiving regular payments for several years. The first two warships for India will be completed by 2002 and the third by 2003. Baltic Shipyard re-started negotiations with the Industrial Development Corporation of Scandinavia (Norway) on building four 5,700 dwt chemical tankers. This order was estimated at about USD 70 million.