Academician Ageev
Towing of the oceanographic research vessel “Akademik Ageev “(project 16450, code “Garage-Huys”). The state acted as the customer. The oceanographer was transferred along the Neva River from JSC “Leningrad Shipbuilding Plant “Pella” (Otradnoye, Leningrad Region) for completion to JSC “Kanonersky Shipbuilding Plant” (Kanonersky Island, St. Petersburg)
The uniqueness of the towing operation was that the draft of the object exceeded the guaranteed depth on the ship’s course by almost a meter. We had to find, coordinate and arrange a new fairway on the Neva River section with a floating fence.
The object of transportation had truly grandiose dimensions for towing along the Neva River: 4.74 m of draft, 28 m of width with fenders and 22 m of freeboard height. The object was not self-propelled. During the responsible passage of the St. Petersburg bridges, we had to rely only on the high professionalism of the captains of the four azimuth tugs providing their passage, with a total capacity of 11,150 hp.In addition to the tugs providing movement and maneuvering over the oversized object, two river tugs were involved to keep the train at anchor. The total weight of the anchors for holding on the swift Neva current was 3,800 kg (excluding the weight of the anchor chains). Despite the long preparation for the wiring and a large number of approvals and related activities, the towing was successfully completed in record time-less than one day.
