Russian shipbuilding stalls

RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS - In Brief 28 Mar 2019 by Alex Teddy

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Last year Russia built 89 large and medium sized ships. This includes 46 civilian and 43 military vessels. The cost was USD 2.6 billion. In 2017 the figure was 98 ships for USD 1.6 billion. 70% of the value or the orders comes from the Russian Navy. The increase in the money spent on ships is mainly due to a few very expensive military orders which totaled USD 1.9 billion last year - almost double the total for 2017.These figures are not heartening for the government which had hoped to expand shipbuilding in Russia. The President wanted to see more civilian vessels built and to increase the variety of ships that the industry could produce. From 2020 naval orders are due to be steadily reduced because the naval upgrade and expansion program will have been completed. Worse still the cost of laying down civilian and military ships is rising. The government could legally insist that companies in receipt of state subsidies export their wares on Russian flagged vessels. This would have costs for the companies concerned and would do little to boost Russian shipbuilding. Too many companies that need ships are having them built in South Korea or elsewhere.Russia is going to have to come up with some very bright ideas to give shipbuilding a long term future. Russian ships are not that costly by world standards. But that is partly a reflection of Russian shipyards not being capable of building the most sophisticated types of ships at the moment.