Russia’s 1st LNG-powered passenger ship to be built in Tatarstan

Kazan, February 28 - Neftegaz.RU. A Gazprom delegation headed by Vyacheslav Mikhalenko, Member of the Management Committee, took part in the keel-laying ceremony for Chaika LNG, the 1st passenger ship in Russia to be powered by LNG. The event was held at the shipyard of Zelenodolsk Plant named after A.Gorky in Zelenodolsk, Tatarstan.

The ceremony was also attended by Rustam Minnikhanov, President of Tatarstan, Yury Kostin, Director of the Department of State Policy for Maritime and River Transport at the Russian Ministry of Transport, Andrey Dmitriev, Director General of Gazprom Gazomotornoye Toplivo, Ivan Egorov, Director General of Ak Bars Company, and Alexander Karpov, Director General of Zelenodolsk Plant.

The Chaika LNG leisure and sightseeing boat (motor ship) is intended for passenger voyages, including via tourist routes. The vessel, which can accommodate at least 170 people, is expected to be launched as early as this year.



The use of natural gas in river and maritime transport is a new segment of the NGV market. Today, LNG is the most promising motor fuel for waterborne transport and the most affordable alternative to bunker fuel oil and diesel fuel.

Tatarstan is a unique location from a logistics standpoint, and it has robust transport potential in terms of cutting-edge industrial technologies. It is planned that the region will produce LNG-powered tourist ships and Gazprom will be responsible for refueling said ships.

Vyacheslav Mikhalenko and Rustam Minnikhanov held a meeting in Zelenodolsk on the development of the NGV refueling network in Tatarstan. It was noted that the number of NGV refueling units in the region has doubled to 20 since 2016, incl. the CNG filling station built in Almetyevsk in late 2019. The amount of gas consumed as a vehicle fuel is growing in Tatarstan: in 2019, consumer sales of gas went up by 39 % from 2018 and by 70 % from 2017.