Informational report
PMGE has its own specially equipped research vessels "Professor Logachev" and "Akademik Aleksandr Karpinsky" with a large autonomy, based in the port of St. Petersburg.
|
R/V ‘Professor Logachev’ |
R/V ‘Academic A.Karpinsky’ |
R/V «Academic A.Karpinsky» (built in 1984) is the only Russian vessel realizing geological geophysical research on the Antarctic shelf.
By the order of the Government of the Russian Federation of 2 June 2005 No. 713-R it was included in the part of the courts to ensure the activities of the Russian Antarctic Expedition (RAE). The activities of the Russian Federation in Antarctica are being realized by the RAE, under management and control by the Russian Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring, according to the Russian Federation Presidential Decree of August 7, 1992 ¹ 824 «About the Russian Antarctic Expedition». RAE realizes in Antarctica the complex interdepartmental field survey on the projects provided by the Federal Target Program ‘World ocean’ and by departmental analytical and target programs of Russian Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring, Russian Federal Agency on Mineral Resources, Russian Federal Agency for Fishery, Ministry of Education and Science, Russian Federal Space Agency and Russian Academy of Sciences.
Within the activities of Russian Federal Agency on Subsoil Use, dozens of thousands line kilometers of seismic profiles were made on the Antarctic continental shelf and adjoining regions of the continental slope and abyssal troughs, extensive sedimentation basins with inferred hydrocarbon resources were discovered, estimated as 70 billion of tons of reference fuel. Overwhelming majority of these works were realized from board of R/V «Academic Alexandr Karpinsky».
Nevertheless, during the years of work in ice conditions the Vessel’s mechanic, electromechanic and radionavigation equipment, safety and communication systems, navigational aids turned old and out-of-date. For the majority outworn machinery there are no spare parts, and this hampers the preventive repair. Moreover, since 2005, no specialized funds have been assigned for the repair of Research vessels for ship class survey according to Specifications of International Navigation Safety conventions, while the own funds of the enterprise are often insufficient for proper repairs in the value of more than 50 million roubles.
The present scientific equipment on board the vessel was installed in 2001 and even then didn’t meet the high modern requirements imposed to geological geophysical data. Besides, the towed streamer with liquid filler didn’t fully correspond to ecological safety specifications and had to be replaced with modern solid state streamer.
At the direction of the Government of Russian Federation ¹1926-ð of 30 October 2010 the Russian Federation action strategy in the Antarctica up to 2020 and for further extension was adopted. The list of main measures of Strategy p.9 realization involved the modernization of the R/V ‘Academic A. Karpinsky’, the deadline were 2011-2012.
In 2011 PMGE at its own cost and expense realized the reconstruction project preparation with the participation of the design bureau ‘Vostok’ and International Business Company ‘Sudoimport’.
The project covered the two-way reconstruction of the Vessel – the modernization of some ship systems and the replacement of scientific equipment. It is taken into account that the Vessel will function not less than 5-7 years and in future will be replaced by the new one. For this reason the project covers the minimum required for this operational lifetime reconstruction amount, concerning only the most worn-out ship systems and machinery which explicitly endanger the navigation safety and ecological compatibility.
The reconstruction plans were supported by the Federal Agency on Mineral Resources (Rosnedra), which allocated the necessary funds for 2013-2014 in the amount of 495 195 million roubles.
At the end of 2013 on a competitive basis the Government Contract on reconstruction operation was made with the ‘Tallinn Shipyard’, and the Contract was realized in full by November 1, 2014.
So far (October 2016) R/V «Academic A. Karpinsky’ have successfully realized the CDP seismic works with a new complex in the Antarctica (Cosmonaut Sea and Weddell Sea) within a framework of the 60-61-th Russian Antarctic Expedition.
The main composition of the works realized on the Vessel reconstruction is reported in the Table.
Research Vessel ‘Academic A. Karpinsky’
(reconstructed in 2013-2014, reconstruction cost 495.195 million rubles)
| Main reconstructed systems | Types of old equipment (year of manufacture) | Types of new equipment (year of manufacture) |
| Harbor diesel-generators (3 pc) | DGRA 200/750 (Russia, 1984) | Volvo Penta D16MG (Sweden, 2014, 400 kW) |
| Lifeboats and launch and recovery gear | Lifeboats for 55 persons and launch and recovery gear( Russia, 1984) | Lifeboats for 35 persons and launch and recovery gear(2014) |
| Cargo crane | Cargo booms 3 tons (Russia, 1984) | ÐÊÌ1150-20 (5t õ 20 m, Germany, 2014) |
| Geological windlass with Ãåîëîãè÷åñêàÿ ëåáåäêà with crane-davit | Absent | Windlass IBERCISA MO-H/90/5000-13 (Spain, 2014), crane-davit 4õ2.8m, cargo capacity 5t. |
| High pressure compressors (2 pc) | IND0À2 (Russia,1991) | SAUER WP 6442 (Germany, 2014) |
| Cabins | 8 double cabins (without shower and lavatory) | 8 double cabins with shower, lavatory, new furniture |
| Laboratories | 5 laboratories (1984) | 5 laboratories, replacement of furniture, floor coating , wall panels, electrical fitting |
| Seismic system | MSX-6000 (USA, 2000, streamer 6000 m, 480 channels) | DigiSTREAMER (USA, 2014, streamer 8000m, 560 channels) |
| Difference magnitometer | ‘Vostok’ (Russia, 1990) | Sea Spy (Canada, 2014) |
| Marine Gravimeter | Gravimeter Cheta AGG (Russia) | Chekan-ÀÌ (Russia, 2014) |
| Multibeam echosounder | Absent | ATLAS Hydrosweep MD-30 (Germany, 2014) |
|
Streamer 8000m |
Crane and winch |
|
Seismic recording instruments |
Cabin with WC and bathroom unit |
Research Vessel ‘Professor Logachev’(year built 1990) has a geological survey specialization and is used in the works on solid minerals, i.e. deep sea polymetallic sulfides (DPS) , on geoecology and during geological surveys in Arctic regions.
Lately the R/V has been used in large amount of research activities in the Central part of the Atlantic Ocean on DPS and is a lead ship of MNR in this direction. In the period from 1995 to 2011 the PMGE staff from board R/V ‘Professor Logachev’ discovered eight big ore clusters with very high content of colored, rare and precious metals and ore forecast total resources exceeding 80 million tons.
In 2010 Federal State Unitary Scientific Industrial Enterprise Polar Marine Geological Expedition (SUSIE PMGE) in cooperation with FSUE ‘VNIIOceangeologiya’ prepared the Russian Federation Application for the approval of the plan on polymetallic sulfides prospecting. In December 2010 on the ground of the Decree of the Russian Federation Government of October 5, 2010 ¹1684-ð the Application was delivered to the International Sea-Bed Authority (ISBA). On July 19, 2011 the Application of Russian Federation was approved in the ISBA 17-th session. At the end of 2011 15-year Contract with ISBA was signed for the prospecting of polymetallic sulfides in the Application area.
The Application area is located in the Central Part of the Atlantic Ocean in the axial part of Mid-Atlantic Ridge within the latitude range from 12°48' to 20°55' N. The Application area includes 100 units the size approximately 10x10 km, the total area 10 000 sq. km. The application units are composed into 7 groups, each unit includes from 9 to 36 units.
The application area comprises the discovered by Russian geologists ore clusters ‘Logachev’, ‘Ashadze’ and ‘Semyonov’, ore fields ‘Krasnov’, ‘Zenith-Victoria’, ‘Peterburgskoye’ and ‘Irinovskoye’, and also the ore field ‘Pui de Foll’. The total forecast resources on metals are: copper – 3 636 thousand tons; zink – 626 thousand tons; gold – 110 tons; silver – 1517 tons.
According to the Contract terms with International Sea-Bed Authority, Russia undertakes to mark 25 most promising units among 100 within on its application area within 15 years. This work fully falls to R/V ‘Professor Logachev’ as the only vessel of the branch dealing with DPS.
For this reason the Federal Agency on Mineral Resources also supported the plans of the vessel reconstruction in order to continue the works on International Sea-Bed Authority contract, and funds (989.5 million roubles, among other things 55 million roubles on the designing) were allocated from the budget on the reconstruction in 2014-2016
In November 2013 on a competitive basis the contract was made with Federal State Unitary Enterprise ‘Krylov State Scientific Centre’ for development of vessel reconstruction project, and in November 2014, by the results of open competitive tender, after coordination with Russian Federal Anti-Monopoly Service, the State contract ¹ ÐË2/08201444ÔÇ of 24.11.2014 was made with closed corporation ‘Kanonersky ship-repairing yard’ (ÊSRY) – of the works on the object ‘Reconstruction of the Research Våssel ‘Professor Logachev’’
The above mentioned State contract assumes the following stages of execution of work in accordance with budget obligation limits:
2014 – 85.5 million roubles;
2015 – 675.0 million roubles;
2016 – 174.0 million roubles.
In whole 934.5 million roubles is allocated for the object.
In 2014 according to the State contract terms the amount of works for 85.5 million roubles was fulfilled: At the end of 2014 the basic contract between PMGE and KSRY was concluded, the suppliers of the basic equipment were appointed, KSRY made contracts for the delivery of equipment with long manufacture time.
In 2015 according to the State contract terms the amount of works for 675.0 million roubles was fulfilled: KSRY continued contracting the deliveries, after the return of the vessel from the planned cruise to MAR in July 2015, the dismantling works of the old equipment started, and from the second part of 2015 – the receipt of the new equipment and works on its assembly.
In 2016 the works on the equipment assembly and its adjusting continued, and on September 29, 2016, after mooring and sea in the Baltic Sea area, PMGE signed the Act on acceptance of reconstruction work . By September 29 the amount of works for the rest 175.0 million roubles had been made according to the terms of the State contract.
The works on R/V ‘Professor Logachev’ reconstruction were executed in full and in compliance with the Project of the Vessel reconstruction in technical and financial terms.
The main composition of the works fulfilled on the vessel reconstruction can be found in the Table.
R/V ‘Professor Logachev’
(reconstructed in 2014-2016, reconstruction cost 934.5 million roubles)
| Basic reconstructed systems | Types of old equipment (country, year of manufacture) | Types of new equipment (country, year of manufacture) |
| Harbour Diesel-generators (3 pcs) | DGRA 200/750 ( Russia, 1989) | Volvo Penta D16MGHE (Sweden, 2015, 400 kW) |
| Shaft generators (2 pcs) | SGB 1600-1500 ÎÌ4,(Ukraine, 1989) | IFC2 564-4 (1600êW, China, 2015) |
| Lifeboats (2 pcs) and launching and lifting gear (2 pcs) | Lifeboats for 55 pers/ and launching and lifting gear( Russia, 1989) | Lifeboats for 35 pers. and launching and lifting gear (China, 2015) |
| Bow retractable azimuth thruster | Retractable thruster 1.6-00, 500 êW (Russia, 1989) | GRA1350, 500 êW (Holland, 2015) |
| Stern cargo crane | Hagglund 5òõ20ì (Norway, 1989) | Stern –YQ12-20 (12tõ20m) Central- YQ5-14 (5tõ14m) (China, 2015) |
| Winch | Òðàíçèòíàÿ, ËÝÑ-54 (12ò) (Russia, 1989) Underwater television, (10ò), (Finland, 1989) Oceanographic, Leroc 1.2 (1.2ò) (Russia, 1989) |
Transit, Adria Winch, 16ò (Croatia, 2015)
Underwater television, LMG-160 (16ò), (Russia, 2014) Oceanographic, Adria Winch, 3ò (Croatia 2015) |
| Navigational Hydrographic Equipment | Automatic Pilot System AIST(RF,1989)
Navigational echosounder NEL-1Ì, Russian Federation, 1989) Log IEL-2Ì (RF,1989) Radars: Furuno FR 2115 , FR-2835 (Japan , 2008) Receiver-indicators (2008)GP-90, GP-31, Ashtech GG-24 GP-90, GP-31, Ashtech GG-24 |
(All equipment, 2015)
Automatic Pilot System Navipilot 4000 Navigational echosounder Skipper CDS 101 Induction log Skipper DL 850 System NAVTEX NT-1800JMS Radars: ECAT2 253 X-band ECAT2 252 S-band System ECDIS Navi-Sailor NS4000 ECDIS MFD Receiver-indicators DGPS/DGLONASS T701, DGPS Trimble SP 351 |
| Satellite communication and television system | Communication system Inmarsat Fleet 250, Inmarsat Mini-M | Communication system VSAT SeaTel, Inmarsat Fleet 250 Television Salor 100 |
| Crew cabins | 6 single with shower 38 double (without shower) 2 four-passenger (without shower) |
4 single suites with shower 17 single cabins with shower 28 double cabins with shower Cabin furnishing |
| Laboratories | 7 laboratories (1990) | 7 laboratories, replacement of furniture, floor coating , wall panels, electrics. . Replanning of some laboratories. Amplification of geological laboratory, reduction in size of the computer centre on account of crew cabins. 3 additional dismountable laboratories were made on the basis of 20 feet . |
| Remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) | Absent | SubFighter 30k, 6000m, 2 manipulators, 9 engines, near bottom multibeam echosounder SeaBat 7125. (Norway, 2015) |
| Towed television camera | Phototelevision camera (PTC) (Russia, 1990) | Sperre, 6000ì, 2 LED lamps, color video camera, altimeter (Norway, 2015) |
| Underwater navigation system | Sigma 1001 (Russia, 1990) | HiPAP 101, distance 10 êm, operating modes USBL and LB, accuracy 0.2%, (Norway, 2015) |
| Multibeam echosounder | Absent | ATLAS Hydrosweep MD/30 1°õ1° (Germany, 2015) |
| Hydrological probe | SBE 911 Plus (USA, 2000) | SBE 911 Plus (USA, 2015) |
| Side-scanning sonar | ÌÀÊ-1Ì, frequencies 30 êÃö è 100 êÃö, electric module (Russia, 2000ã) | ÌÀÊ-1Ì-1, frequencies 30 êHz, 120 kHz, electric module (Russia, 2015) |
Photos are shown below illustrating the course and results of R/V ‘Professor Logachev’ reconstruction on Kanonersky repair yard.
|
July 2015. Disassembling of eco-sounder GEL-4 antennae in the dock. |
July 2015. Disassembling of the bow retractable rudder-propeller 1.6 in the dock. |
|
October 2015. Assembling of the new geological laboratory |
August 2015. Disassembling of old cabins |
|
December 2015. ROV Sperre in the plant floor before in-plant tests, handing over to the acceptance commission and shipping. |
December 2015. Norway. ROV control board before handing over to the acceptance commission. |
|
May 2016. Assembling of antennae of multibeam echosounder ATLAS MD/30 in the dock. |
May 2016. Assembling of the new retractable thruster GRA1350 in the dock. |
|
May 2016. Retractable antenna of underwater navigation system HIPAP-101. |
July 2016. Oceanographic winch and underwater television winch. |
|
May 2016. New deep-sea complex ÌÀÊ-1Ì-1 warehouse of Kanonersky repair yard. |
May 2016. Depressor of ÌÀÊ-1Ì-1 complex |
|
July 2016. Photo of the ship stern part with new crane 12 tons, reach of crane is 20 m. |
July 2016. Photo of the midship. New folding crane, tonnage 5 tons and new launching and lifting gear for lifeboats. |
|
July 2016. Stern crane 12ò for 20 ì. |
July 2016. Antenna of satellite communication station (VSAT) and radio locators. |
|
July 2016. Containers-laboratories |
July 2016ã. Interior of the container-laboratory. |
|
September 2016. New crew cabins. |
September 2016. Standard sanitary conveniences of all the crew cabins – shower unit and lavatory. |
|
September 2016. Deep Sea Research Laboratory. |
September 2016. Control board of ROV in Deep Sea Research Laboratory. |
|
September 2016. ROV trials. |
September 2016. FTA trials |
Due to the reconstruction the Ministry of Natural Resources and Federal Agency of Mineral Resources came into possession of two renovated vessels to the fullest extent fit to the solution of the most important state and geopolitical tasks and objectives in the field of exploration of mineral resources in the World Ocean and on the shelf.