Roundtable discussion

p style=”text-align: justify;”>On October 9th 2014 in the hotel “Mariott Pushkin” a roundtable discussion “Speed passenger fleet: problems, solutions, operating experience” was held. The event was organized by “Marine Technics” Group and informational portal “Korabel.ru”.

In the roundtable took part:

1. JSC “Severrechflot”
General director Vladimir Makarov
Chief engineer Oleg Pargunkin
2. “Association of Saint-Petersburg passenger ships owners”
President of Association Evgeny Zubarev
3. LLC “NEVA TRAVEL COMPANY”
Deputy General Director Jury Chabatov
4. LLC “Melodiya”
General Director Sergey Gasilin
5. SC “Nevaflot”
Fleet director Ivan Ponusenko
6. “Vodohod”
Head of technical department Nikolay Borodzich
7. “Dieselzipservice” Group
General Director Mikhail Danilenko
8. “Marine Technics” Group
Head of fleet modernization department Konstantin Barkanov
Brand-manager MAN Gennady Pashinin
9. Informational portal “Korabel.ru”
Editor-in-chief Nikolay Ivakin
General Director Alexandr Ivakin
10. LLC “AGAT DESIGN BUREAU”
Director – chief engineer Sergey Porodnikov
11. JSC “Shipbuilding engineering center”
Chief engineer Jury Gorbachev
12. CJSC “Neptun-Sudomontazh”
Milhail Frantsev
13.“Krylov State Research Center”
Chief engineer – Viktor Sokolov

Today one of the major problems of high-speed passenger fleet is lack of understanding between those who create the hydrofoil vessels and those who operate them. Therefore, the main objective of this event, according to the organizers, was an open dialogue between the two parties.

Problems in the field of high-speed passenger shipping in Russia are global and clear to everyone, but their solutions are still controversial. Until recently these arguments were not taking into account the opinions of those who are not only familiar with the hydrofoil vessels on paper, but operate those vessels.

The roundtable was led by Nilolay Ivakin who maintained the high tension of the whole discussion.

The event program consisted of two parts – in the beginning ship owners and representatives of organizations that operate hydrofoil vessels expressed their opinions, then took the floor representatives of research centers and project offices.

First of all the floor was given to Vladimir Makarov – General Director of JSC “Severrechflot” who talked about the peculiarities of hydrofoil vessels operation in the Khanty-Mansiisk autonomous district on long lines from 450 to 750 km. According to him, the main requirements for operation on these routes are reliability of the equipment (in this part MAN engines were highlighted, installed within the framework of the modernization program), comfort for passengers which are en route for 14 hours. Such disadvantages of the existing hydrofoils were mentioned as lack of conditions for a comfortable stay of the crew, lack of luggage space and meals on board.

The completely opposite opinion to the problems of hydrofoils was expressed by the representative of the company “Vodohod” Nicholas Borodzich, which operates hydrofoil vessels on intracity lines (St. Petersburg – Peterhof). According to Nikolai Borodzich, the primary needs on the short-haul are low fuel consumption and comfort on board due to the low noise and vibration level. And, of course, a presentable exterior, because the “Meteor” is not just means transportation, it is the symbol of the city. Also the number of seats is very important for such vessels which must be balanced with passenger capacity of tourist buses. But the presence of luggage space and the crew accommodation is less important under these conditions.

In the second part of the event representatives of project offices and research centers presented their views and suggestions on the issue.

The first speaker was Michael Frantsev who invited participants of the round table to see the results of studies on hydrofoil operation on rivers Ob and Irtysh. After that the representative of CJSC “Neptun-Sudomontazh” demonstrated a number of promising projects of high-speed passenger fleet vessels.

He was followed by representatives of Krylov State Research Center with a demonstration of high-speed catamaran designed by Skolov.

The presentations of designers caused heated discussion and debates on the future of high-speed passenger fleet.

At the end of the event representatives of companies – suppliers of equipment took the floor: General Director of “Dizelzipservice” Mikhail Danilenko spoke about the great prospects of engines “Zvezda” repair and the head of the fleet modernization department of “Marine Technics” Konstantin Barkanov presented the program of speed passenger fleet modernization.

During discussion the participants concluded that the design and construction of the speed passenger fleet should take into account characteristics of the area of operation and the method of unification, familiar to us from the times of the Soviet Union, is not applicable in today’s reality. And the chief consultant on this issue should be ship owners which operate these vessels, and not organizations that regulate their activity. The event has become a shining example of necessity of an open dialogue between the designer and the ship owner, because only together we can turn problems of high-speed passenger fleet towards a positive outcome.

According to most participants, the round table “Speed passenger fleet: problems, solutions, operating experience” was productive and interesting. Many participants have noticed that this table was really “round” and collected different views and opinions, and that events of this kind haven’t been organized before. The organizers would like thank everyone who attended the event, took an active part in discussions and expressed his ir point of view. We hope that this is not the last event of this kind.

Detailed conclusions of the round table will be published in the magazine “Korabel.ru” and on the same portal.