Financing the state initiative to build ships will be reduced over 40 percentwhich will reduce the number of planned new ships by almost 70 – results from the presentation of the Ministry of Industry and Trade obtained by the RBK information service.
The program, which was launched in 2023, originally assumed construction over 260 freight, fishing, deepening and cruise ships By 2027, only 191 ships will be delivered according to the amended plan, which is a significant decrease in relation to its original purpose.
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Complete financing of the program is to drop from 231 billion rubles (at the current exchange rate PLN 10 billion) to PLN 134.8 billion (PLN 6 billion). One of the first categories that will be withdrawn will probably be freight and fishing vessels and deepers.
Cuts occur in the context of the growing costs of construction and strong fiscal pressure related to the war in Ukraine. One -third of federal expenses is currently allocated to defensewhile revenues from oil and gas, which is the basis of Russia's budget, fell sharply.
The renewal of the fleet, started in 2023 in order to solve the problem of rapid aging of civil ships in the country, is limited in connection with sharpening budget restrictions – says Oleg Sutjurin, a partner at SBS Consulting. – The main challenge is a rapid increase in construction costs – he explains.
Although the Ministry of Industry claims that the revised fleet program remains feasible, walrous experts warn that Further delays may have serious consequences for security.
The average age of Russian civil ships is currently 40 years. Experts estimate that the country must introduce 200-220 new ships a year to maintain operational security and reliability.
Budget tensions have already caused other cuts in industry. In May, Moscow cut over 100 billion rubles (PLN 4 billion) from key aviation support programs, withdrawing from previous plans to replace Western aircraft in the state fleet.
