Rosmorport's icebreakers clear passage for ships in Azov Sea

Four diesel-electric icebreakers of FSUE Rosmorport are presently engaged in cutting a path for 18 ships in the ice of the Sea of Azov, the Azov Ice Operations HQ told PortNews.

The Kapitan Demidov and the Kapitan Chudinov are escorting the M/V Prastos, the M/V St. Nicholas to the entrance buoy of the port Temryuk.

The Kapitan Moshkin is escorting a convoy of 9 ships, the A. Lebed, the Vilesh River, the Nikolai Kuznetsov, the Palmali Discovery, the Nasiba Zeynalova, the Baltic Mariner, the Fariz Ismailhanov, the Adriatic Mariner and the Clio, to the ports of Taganrog, Azov and Rostov-on-Don.

The forth icebreaker, the Kapitan Krutov is now leading a convoy of 7 ships: the Astrakhan, the Yaroslavl, the Palladium", the Tumen-1, the Amur-2518, the Chelsea-4 and Chelsea-6 all bound to the port of Yeisk.

As of now, there are 41 merchant ships waiting for icebreaking assistance in the Sea of Azov, 37 of them – inbound, 4 – outbound. There are also 70 vessels in the Russian ports of the Azov Sea that are ready to depart, only 21 of them comply with the ice-class requirements. From the Black Sea 68 vessels are waiting to pass the Kerch Strait in the Sea of Azov, 29 of them have ice-class.

According to ice reconnaissance the entire sea is covered with drift ice: to the west of the meridian 36 ° 30 'E. –gray-white ice, with the inclusion of gray and nilas, compact. 10pts, east of the meridian 36 ° 30 'E. - mostly gray and gray-white ice, compact. 10pts. In the Kerch Strait: drifting gray and gray-white ice, of 9-10pts. In the Kerch Strait – the 20cm-thick fast ice, in Primorsko-Akhtarsk – the 35cm-thick ice, in the Taganrog Bay - 30-40 cm, in Genichevsk – 25cm, near the port of Kavkaz - ice thickness up to 30 cm, in the Kerch Strait and Sea of Azov to the west – pressure ridges formation, up to 3m-tall hummocks.

Weather forecast predicts for the coming week a temperature of – 13 Cº (night) and -5 Cº (day) in the northern part of the Azov Sea, winds of different directions. In the southern part of the Azov Sea: -9 Cº (night), - 4Cº (day). By this weekend the Kerch Strait and the western part of the Azov Sea the fast ice thickness will increase by 4-6 cm.

The Rosmorport owned icebreakers were deployed and operate in the area in accordance with the instructions of the Ice Operations Headquarters (IOHQ) led by Harbour Master of the Port of Taganrog. Currently, the IOHQ is busy freeing ice-trapped vessels and escort them to open water in the Kerch Strait. The Azov Sea is "closed" for arrivals, while the Russian ports of the Azov Sea are accessible for incoming vessels. The icebreakers work in pairs clearing a passage for the vessel and then to start organizing convoys to escort ships both to the north-east towards the port of Taganrog, Azov, Rostov-on-Don, Eisk, and from the ports to the Kerch Strait, as well as to assist the ships at the port of Temryuk.