The newspaper Vedomosti, in an article by Svetlana Afonina, "USC may double investments in the modernization of the Severnaya Verf. For 600 billion rubles, an almost new shipbuilding enterprise can be built on the site of the plant," United Shipbuilding Corporation JSC (USC; transferred to VTB management) plans to complete a feasibility study for the large-scale modernization of PJSC Severnaya Verf Shipbuilding Plant in St. Petersburg by November 2025. According to preliminary data, the volume of investments in the project may double compared to initial estimates and amount to about 600 billion rubles, according to two Vedomosti sources familiar with the progress of the project and in the administration of St. Petersburg.
Preliminary design of the new shipbuilding complex of PJSC "Severnaya Verf Shipbuilding Plant" in St. Petersburg (c) PJSC "Severnaya Verf Shipbuilding Plant"
According to the first of them, the feasibility study of the project is at the final stage and it is already clear that the volume of investments will be more than the previously announced 300 billion rubles. The interlocutor did not rule out a doubling of this value. According to him, this does not contradict previous estimates, since the agreement on the modernization of the plant, signed at SPIEF 2025, assumes an investment volume of "at least 300 billion rubles."
An interlocutor of Vedomosti in the administration of St. Petersburg also heard about the potential doubling of investments. In his opinion, this "fits logically" into USC's ambitious plans to enter the large-tonnage shipbuilding market. The increase in costs is primarily due to the clarification of the scope of work, as well as the inclusion of additional facilities and equipment in the estimate, the source says.
Thus, the cost of reconstruction of the Severnaya Verf could reach 600 billion rubles, which is comparable to the preliminary estimate of investments in the construction of a new USC shipyard in the Intermediate Bay in the Ussuriysky Bay in the Far East. The capacity of this enterprise should be up to 12 units per year, its launch is scheduled for 2032. Investments in this project are estimated at 600 billion rubles, Interfax reported in September, citing materials from the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation.
The modernization of the shipyard in St. Petersburg actually involves the creation of a new enterprise, Vasily Volegov, CEO of Severnaya Verf, told reporters in September at the Neva-2025 exhibition. He clarified that "from the current contour" of the shipyard, only one building will remain - the boathouse, built in 1945, and everything else will be demolished.
At the moment, according to the top manager, the project has entered an active phase. In particular, a master plan has been formed, there is an understanding of all the "production changes", and design has begun. The new site will occupy about 100 hectares, and it is planned to complete the work and put new facilities into operation in stages by 2031, he added. The top manager did not comment on the possible increase in investments. The state corporation plans to assess the estimated cost by the end of the second quarter of 2026, said Andrey Puchkov, CEO of USC.
According to the presentation that the state corporation presented at Neva-2025, among other things, two boathouses will be erected in the contour of the Severnaya Verf, designed for the construction of vessels up to 240 x 48 m in size. Each of the boathouses will consist of three spans of 48 m and 38 m wide and 250 m long, and they will also be equipped with overhead cranes with a lifting capacity of 700-900 tons.
In addition, the shipyard will have Russia's first indoor dry dock with a height of 100 m with the possibility of separating slipways, designed for the construction of vessels up to 350 x 60 m in size. A Goliath crane with a lifting capacity of up to 1,000 tons will also appear at the shipyard.
The modernization project will increase Severnaya Verf's production volume to 15 million standard hours, metal processing by 15 times to 90,000 tons per year and produce up to 11 vessels per year, the presentation notes. "In fact, there will be a new shipyard there," said Andrei Buzinov, First Deputy General Director of USC, in April 2025.
After the completion of the project, Severnaya Verf will be able to begin construction of a medium- and large-tonnage fleet, Volegov noted. These include Aframax tankers (250 x 44 m, with a displacement of 24,000 tons), gas carriers (299 x 45 m, up to 52,000 tons), container ships (247 x 32 m, up to 30,000 tons) and bulk carriers (180 x 32 m, 10,000 tons). According to the forecast of the top manager, the renovated shipyard will be provided with orders until 2075.
So far, large-tonnage vessels in St. Petersburg are being built only at the USC Baltic Shipyard, which, among other things, produces a series of nuclear icebreakers of the 22220 project for the Northern Sea Route.
Such large-scale projects as the modernization of the Severnaya Verf or the planned construction of the USC shipyard in the Far East should be considered as state-owned, rather than purely commercial, says Vitaly Chernov, head of the Portnews media group analytics department. China, the leader of the global shipbuilding industry, followed a similar path, creating a base and groundwork within the framework of a conscious long-term development strategy for the country as a whole, he notes.
Given that the main mineral reserves are concentrated in the Arctic, and the Northern Sea Route is a good transport alternative to the Baltic and the Black Sea, Russia will obviously need a large-capacity ice-class fleet, Chernov continues. It is more expedient to build it in the country in order to avoid dependence on foreign partners, the expert believes.
According to a June decree by President Vladimir Putin, federal budget revenues in the form of VTB dividends for 2024-2028 will be used to finance USC, including the modernization of its facilities. VTB's dividends in 2024 amounted to 50% of net profit under IFRS - 275.8 billion rubles, 223.2 billion rubles of which accounted for the share of the state.
The modernization of the Severnaya Verf in the current conditions seems more justified and effective for the industry and the corporation in the long term than the construction of a new plant in the east of the country, says Mikhail Burmistrov, CEO of Infoline-Analytics. The St. Petersburg cluster has a powerful production base, the availability of component suppliers and a significant human resource, the expert notes. At the same time, in the medium term, the project to build a dry dock on the basis of the currently unused Baltic Shipyard slipway has good potential, which can be carried out without shutting down existing production, he believes.
VTB forwarded the questions to USC. Vedomosti sent questions to the company and the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
After the publication of the material, the editorial office received a response from the USC. The company is currently conducting a comprehensive study of the Severnaya Verf modernization project, says its representative. The work is being carried out as planned - a feasibility study will be formed in the spring of 2026, he recalled. It is premature to announce specific investment volumes at this stage, the source said.
"The decisions included in the draft, both on the construction of new facilities and on equipping the plant with equipment, do not allow us to say that the final investment amount will be even close to the amount of 600 billion rubles. We do not understand why assumptions were made about doubling the volume of investments in this project, given the lack of an approved feasibility study," said the representative of the USC.
Preliminary design of the new shipbuilding complex of PJSC "Severnaya Verf Shipbuilding Plant" in St. Petersburg (c) PJSC "Severnaya Verf Shipbuilding Plant"
