Sitronics Group bought 25% of the capital of Perm Shipyard

Sitronics Group (included in AFK Sistema) bought a 25% stake in Perm Shipyard LLC from the Perm Region Development Fund (FRDC), a representative of the investor’s press service told Vedomosti. “The company plans to invest in the Perm Shipyard to reconstruct and modernize its production facilities. The agreement provides for a possible increase in the share of ownership of the enterprise to 100%,” says the interlocutor.

The parties do not disclose the share repurchase price. A Vedomosti source close to the shipyard claims that the blocking stake cost the investor 100 million rubles.

Before the buyout of Sitronics’ share, 94.26% of the Perm Shipyard belonged to FRPC (controlled by the Ministry of Property Management and Urban Development of the Perm Territory), 5.73% belonged to PNPPC – Marine Energy LLC. The shipyard’s work was resumed in 2021 after FRPC bought out the site of the bankrupt Verkhnekamsk shipbuilding complex. Investments, according to local media reports, then amounted to about 300 million rubles.

Sitronics President Nikolai Pozhidaev says the company plans to gradually increase its participation in the management of the shipyard. In 2024, the investor will equip the plant for the production of ships, after which it will become a “full-fledged shipbuilding enterprise”, which will be able to produce, among other things, pleasure and cruise ships of various classes and sizes. The modernization of production should begin within a year after the deal is closed, a representative of the Federal Investment and Production Company noted.

“The production premises and building structures are generally in good condition, the ship-lifting mechanism and crane facilities are functioning. To begin construction of ships, it is necessary to carry out repair work and purchase additional equipment. We will invest funds for further development of capacities as needed, if additional ones are required to complete projects and contracts,” Pozhidaev said.

A representative of the FRPC said that since the shipyard came under the control of the regional government, its staff has grown from 45 to 156 people. The fund bought the entire property complex from the previous owners: buildings, structures, land plots, networks, machine park.

Sitronics Group is a diversified IT company that offers products for various sectors of the economy (from the oil and gas sector to medicine). One of the business areas is the construction of electric-powered ships and infrastructure for them. The main production site of the company, the Emperium shipyard, is located in Otradnoye (Leningrad region).

Sitronics is already building berthing facilities for electric vessels at the Perm Shipyard. By the end of the year, the plant must deliver 19 berths for operation in the waters of the Moscow River.

Managing partner of Veta Ilya Zharsky says that investments in the amount of 100 million rubles. – a small amount against the background of investments of 1 billion rubles. Sitronics to the Emperium plant, after which its capacity was increased to 20 vessels per year. “This is more of a planned investment for the further development of the production division. Buying a blocking stake may mean that the company will continue to absorb the shipyard, since in theory it is interested in complete control. Sitronics receives another promising asset for the production of ships and related infrastructure,” he notes.

Sitronics also supplies electric vessels for capital transport. In June, the first route with electric trams was launched in Moscow, and the second – at the end of September. Project manager for launching electric vessels on the Moscow River “Vodohod. Passenger Port” Yuri Kulikov said that at the beginning of October, the Moscow branch had 14 electric vessels in its operational management: six each and one reserve on the routes “Kievsky – Heart of the Capital” and “ZIL – Pechatniki”. In total, Sitronics will supply the company with 21 Ecobus vessels under the contract.

According to him, the total cost of the contract with the Department of Transport of the Moscow Government (Vodokhod won the competition of the capital’s mayor’s office in 2021) is 26.3 billion rubles, the amount includes the costs of leasing ships, their management and operation, as well as construction and maintenance of bus stops.

“Since June 21, passengers on the route “Kyiv – Heart of the Capital” have made more than 220,000 trips along the Moscow River. Electric vessels have completed more than 5,500 voyages and covered almost 40,000 km. Electric vessels will operate year-round; we see that the demand for trips remains high even after the cold snap,” says the project manager.

He noted that Vodokhod and Emperium are forming the technical parameters of the project of pleasure ships with increased capacity “Moscow 2.0”, the volume of the order and its cost (see Vedomosti dated August 11, 2023). “The concept of the project includes the commercial efficiency of the old Moscow project vessels and modern technologies that will make the vessel more convenient, cost-effective and mass-produced,” added Kulikov.

The State Transport Leasing Company is ready to take part in the project (STLC). Her representative confirmed that STLC interested in participation and ready to offer various financing mechanisms.

A representative of Vodokhod says that the company will continue to replenish its fleet with electric-powered passenger and cruise ships. In June, the company began operating the passenger catamaran “Ecohod” (Ecocruiser project) on the Yenisei (passenger transportation Krasnoyarsk – Divnogorsk and excursion flights) and “Ecohod 2” on the Volga and Oka (Nizhny Novgorod) – more than 48,000 passengers used them. At the beginning of October, the Yaroslavl shipyard “Paritet – Center” launched the Looker 1100H catamaran, the operation of which will begin in the waters of Yaroslavl next year. In 2024, the Ecohod 3 catamaran will also begin operation in Perm.

According to a Sitronics representative, the transition to electric vessels is relevant for St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Yaroslavl, Perm, Krasnoyarsk, Samara and other cities with dense passenger traffic. “We are studying the requests of the regions, assessing their readiness to provide technological connection to electrical networks for the installation of charging stations and berthing infrastructure,” he added.

Representative STLC added that interest in ordering electric cargo-passenger ferries for crossings was shown, in particular, by St. Petersburg, the Moscow region, Tatarstan, the Nizhny Novgorod region and the Perm region. State Transport Leasing Company also records demand for electric cruise ships.

As the representative specified STLC, by May 2024, the leasing company will supply Vodokhod with seven electric vessels ordered from Sitronics under the preferential leasing program of the State Support subprogram of the state program Development of Shipbuilding and Equipment for the Development of Offshore Fields, for transportation in Moscow. The state-owned company will also attract funds from the National Welfare Fund for the construction of 16 Ecobuses and six Ecocruisers in 2025–2026.

Zharsky believes that the market for electric-powered vessels has broad prospects both in Russian cities near waterways and in neighboring countries. He believes that, taking into account the experience and established base, Sitronics today has no competitors in Russia. “The cost of each vessel will decrease due to the expansion of the production base, so the price should become more and more attractive for operators. The problems of the project are the insufficient availability of charging infrastructure and complex logistics, but they can be solved,” said Zharsky.

Senior expert and IPEM analyst Anatoly Dronov, on the contrary, believes that the prospects for river electric transport are limited to the territory of Moscow.

“Passenger traffic on electric ships in Moscow cannot be scaled up in other regions due to the high cost. Using the example of Moscow, budget costs for the supply and maintenance of ships can amount to tens of billions of rubles. Moscow tariffs (150 – 300 rubles per trip) in the regions will have to be brought closer to the level of local urban public transport. Therefore, regular passenger traffic will lead to unaffordable expenses for the budgets of cities and regions,” says the expert.

He says that despite the fact that most of the largest cities in the Russian Federation are located along large rivers, most regional administrations do not have a clear vision for the development of passenger transportation by river transport. Most often, it is assigned to suburban service on seasonal country routes, which often require budget funding to keep tariffs at a level acceptable to the population.

The analyst does not see significant prospects for river electric transport in the countries of the former CIS. “In friendly neighboring countries there are almost no cities on navigable sections of rivers with a population of more than half a million people. The prospects for the pleasure format are being assessed in batches of vessels. Russian manufacturers can realize certain logistics advantages in the Caspian Basin when creating marine electric vessels. Otherwise, strong competition with global shipbuilding is expected,” Dronov is sure.