Russia is fast at work in its efforts to add new icebreakers to its existing fleet. A report by the Barents Observer highlights the progress being made in Russia’s quest to increase its presence in the Arctic.

The higher the ambitions in the Arctic, the more icebreakers under construction. That appears to be the case, at least for Russia. The country currently has at least 14 icebreakers under construction and several more under planning.

In addition, several other kinds of icebreaking vessels are under construction, among them special LNG tankers.

The construction of the new vessels is all concentrated on yards located in and around St Petersburg. While the Baltiisky Yard is constructing the new generation nuclear-powered icebreakers, the Admiralty Yard and the Vyborg Yard produce diesel-engined vessels. Also the Yantar Yard in Kaliningrad has been involved in construction processes. In addition, the Russian-owned Arctech Yard in neighboring Finland is delivering icebreaking vessels for Russian stakeholders.