OAO Okskaya Shipyard: history, description, products

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

JSC Okskaya Shipyard is a shipbuilding company in the Nizhny Novgorod region, located near the town of Navashino. It specializes in the assembly of oil tankers of the "river-sea" class, medium-tonnage vessels, tugs, patrol boats, bulk carriers, bunkerers, road floating bridges.

Creation

The founding of the Oka Shipyard is directly related to… hydrocarbon production on the Absheron Peninsula in Azerbaijan, located thousands of kilometers from the plant. At the end of the 19th century, the transportation of oil and kerosene from Baku to Central Russia along the Volga and tributaries was carried out in barrels by ordinary ships. Their loading, transshipment and unloading took a lot of time. As a result, the cost of production was 20% higher than that of oil products delivered from America.

In 1873, the Astrakhan merchants Artemyevs invented a cheaper and more rational way of transportation without using barrels - in a tarred chest, where oil was pumped. This method has rapidly gained popularity. But since tanker transport ships were mostly wooden,there were frequent leaks of raw materials, which adversely affected the river ecosystem.

Ultimately, the government strongly recommended the use of metal tankers for oil transportation, but there were extremely few of them. Entrepreneurial industrialists hurried to occupy a profitable niche in the shipbuilding market. The Gorokhovets shipyard was the first to build 3000-9000-ton tankers. A year later, in 1907, the artel of the Kulebaki plant, the predecessor of the Oka shipyard, took over their construction.

Pre-revolutionary period

By 1912, the company was the largest builder of barges and oil tankers on the Volga. Among his clients was the Nobel Brothers Association. The first courts were given female names: "Yaroslavna", "Olga the Wise" and "Catherine the Great".

By 1917, the shipyard launched about 60 boats. Among them:

• 30 barges;
• 20 scow;
• schooners;
• tugs;
• ships.

In addition to ships, the plant produced bridge metal structures, caissons, tanks, shaft pipes, cisterns, locomotive tender tanks.

First five-year plans

After the revolution, the company was nationalized. A new round in its development began in 1935. At the initiative of the director of the Okskaya Shipyard, a new technology was introduced into production - welding - which made it possible to abandon more labor-intensive riveting. The first all-welded vessel was the 6,000-ton barge Komsomolka Sudoplatova.

Before the warThe shipyard delivered 139 watercraft to customers, 14 of which are self-propelled. During the Second World War, most of the men of the plant fought, production volumes dropped significantly. With the end of World War II, the enterprise again "breathed deeply." Equipment was updated, capacities and volumes of work were increased, new workshops were opened.

Further development

The construction of the Volga-Don Canal in the 1960s made it possible to connect two large transport water systems: the Volga River and the Don River. It also opened access to the ports of the Azov and Black Seas. As a result, cargo traffic has increased significantly. In these circumstances, the Okskaya Shipyard received a large order for the construction of 5300-ton bulk carriers of the 507th series. This type of ships became the base, it served as a prototype for many subsequent models and modifications. The enterprise manufactured 175 units of the Volzhsky and Volga-Don class.

In 1970-1980, the production of container ships of project 1588 and 15881 was mastered at the Oka Shipyard. 23 vessels of this type were launched into the water. Instructed the team and specific projects. For example, in 1974, the ship for the collection of radioactive water "Serebryanka" was commissioned. In 1985, the Shkval test stand was built for the Navy.

Our days

In 1990-2000 the enterprise continued to work. Dozens of tankers, dry cargo ships, boats, 11 floating bridges were manufactured. In the last five years alone, the shipyard has built 37 vessels. Of which:

• 12 RST tankers;
• 10 RSD series bulk carriers;
• 9 construction ships;
• one project 92800 bunker ship, fire tug and type 21270 boat each.

The important advantage of the plant are:

• rich experience in the design and manufacture of medium-tonnage self-propelled ships, barges, floating bridges;
• well-equipped production base;
• convenient location: the industrial site is connected to the world by water, rail and road.

According to Vladimir Pavlovich Kulikov, General Director of the Okskaya Shipyard, the company looks to the future with confidence. It is part of the international transport group UCL Holding, which unites over 40 companies.