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Baikal Fleet

Data provided by the following organizations: East Siberian Branch of Federal Autonomous Institution “Russian River Registry”; East Siberian Inland Navigation Company OJSC (VSRP); Irkutsk Oblast Center of the State Inspection for small vessels of the Ministry for Emergencies Headquarters; Center of the State Inspection for small vessels of the Ministry for Emergencies Headquarters in the Republic of Buryatia; Siberian Branch of Federal State Unitary Scientific and Production Enterprise “RosGeolFond”

Inland water transport

Lake Baikal is included in the “Inland Water Ways Register of the Russian Federation” approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 1800-r of December 19, 2002 and is classified as Group II of waterways with the total length of 2,356 km. The fleet operating on the Baikal in 2012, as registered with the East Siberian Branch of Russian River Registry, is classified as follows: 

1) general service craft, pleasure craft, search-and-rescue craft; 2) bulk-carrier, passenger, expedition, scientific research vessels; 3) cargo and cargo/passenger ferries; 4) self-propelled tug boats; 5) dynamically supported craft; 6) buoy tenders.

The Law of the Russian Federation No. 36-FZ of April 23, 2012 makes the following changes to the Merchant Shipping Code of the Russian Federation and the Inland Water Transport Code of the Russian Federation:

Article 3 “Basic Terms” amended as follows:

small craft is a vessel with the length not exceeding twenty meters and the total people-carrying capacity of up to twelve persons;

pleasure craft is a vessel with the total people-carrying capacity of up to eighteen persons, including up to twelve passengers, used for non-commercial purposes and intended for recreation on waterways;

sports sailing craft is a vessel built or remodeled for sports activities, which is propelled by wind power and used for non-commercial purposes;

Article 16 “State Registration of Vessels and Rights Thereto” as amended:

1.1. Vessels with the total mass of up to 200 kg and engine power (if equipped) under 8 KW, as well as sports sailing craft up to 9 meters in length, which do not have engines and are not equipped with resting space are not subject to the state registration.

Article 17 “Bodies Performing State Registration of Vessels” as amended:

1. State registration of vessels, excluding small vessels used for non-commercial purposes, in the State Shipping Register and the Register of Rented Foreign Vessels is performed by Administrations of Inland Waterway Basins.

2. State registration of small vessels used for non-commercial purposes in the Small Vessel Register is performed by a federal executive body authorized by the Government of the Russian Federation. The state registration procedure for these vessels in the Small Vessel Register is established by the specified authority.

Classification of vessels registered at Lake Baikal in 2005–2012

To prevent pollution of inland waterways in the course of navigation, the following types of central are in place at Baikal: state supervision, technical supervision, industrial supervision, production supervision and sanitary supervision.

State supervision at Baikal is performed by Rostransnadzor’s East Siberian Basin Directorate of State Supervision at Inland Water Transport in accordance with the legislation.

Technical supervision is performed by East Siberian Branch of Federal Autonomous Institution “Russian River Registry” under the Federal Agency for Marine and Inland Water Transport, in accordance with the Russian River Registry (RRR) rules in the course of building, remodeling, upgrading and renovation of vessels. This agency also performs inspections of vessels in operation. In the course of vessel operation, they are also inspected for environmental safety, in compliance with the RRR rules. At the completion of inspection, each vessel receives a (confirmed) Certificate of prevention of pollution with oil, waste water, garbage and the Certificate of prevention of atmospheric pollution by ships as established by the RRR rules.

Industrial supervision is performed by the State Directorate for Waterways and Navigation under Rostransnadzor in East Siberian basin in charge of licensing transportation activities and performing supervision over location and operation of stationary tech facilities for water protection, in accordance with a special regulation approved by RosMorRechFlot, Russia’s Maritime and Inland Navigation Agency.

Production control is performed by ship owners and captains before navigation start, during navigation and prior to inter-navigational anchorage (repairs).

Sanitary supervision is performed by Federal State Healthcare Institution “Irkutsk Oblast Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology” under Rospotrebnadzor.

The largest ship owner engaged in economic activity at Lake Baikal is East Siberian Inland Navigation Company (VSRP) OJSC.

In 2012, VSRP operated 82 vessels, including tug boats – 12, towed barges – 34, auxiliary vessels – 14, passenger ships – 22. 1,658,210 tons of cargo (1,632,800 tons in 2011) and 171,000 passengers (169,000 in 2011) have been transported in 2012.

VSRP operates the following vessels to service tourists at Lake Baikal:

- cruise ships: Nikolay Yeroschenko, Imperia, Alexander the Great (Vampilov), I. Babushkin, with the total passenger capacity of 225 persons;

- high-speed ships: Voskhod, Barguzin, Kometa, Sviatoy Luka, with the total passenger capacity of 301 persons

VSRP OJSC has several structural units (ports and wharfs) at Lake Baikal:

- Port Baikal (106,834 m²);

- Kultuk wharf (18,000 m²);

- Ust-Barguzin wharf (29,040 m²);

- Nizhneangarsk wharf (28,750 m²).

VSRP vessels return sewage and bilge water for treatment to the Waste Water Processing Vessel (WWPV) Samotlor at Port Baikal. Bilge water from third-party craft is processed at a contract basis. During the 2012 navigation season, WWPV Samotlor received 461.39 tons of waste water for processing (419.72 tons were received in 2011), including 402.13 tons from VSRP fleet and 59.27 tons from third-party vessels). This included 384.67 tons of oil-contaminated water (368.4 tons in 2011), of which 368.94 tons were collected from VSRP fleet and 15.73 tons from third-party vessels. Waste waters are dumped 6 km below the headwaters of the Angara river, in accordance with an Act of Inter-Departmental Committee for Operating Conditions of Port Baikal floating treatment stations. All oil sludge trapped in 2012 was delivered to a specialized organization for disposal.

Treated water meets the requirements of Sanitary Regulations and Norms (SanPiN 2.5.2-703-98). The regulations provide for presence of up to 40 mg/l of suspended solids, up to 40 mg/l BOD₅, up to 1000 coliform index and up to 5 mg/l concentration of oil products in the treated sewage and oily bilge waters. Solid waste is collected in containers at the shore, in places where ships are based, and subsequently moved to landfill.

Measures for preventing pollution of Lake Baikal. Based on the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 643 of August 30, 2001 “On approving the list of activities forbidden in the central ecological zone of Baikal Natural Area”, Articles 1, 6, 19 of the Federal Law “On the Baikal Lake protection”, decree of the governor of Irkutsk Oblast No. 185-p of May 6, 2005 “On restrictions of vessel usage in the Baikal Lake”, Article 33 part 1 and Article 38 of the Charter of Irkutsk Oblast establish measures for protection of Lake Baikal by prohibiting operation of vessels in Lake Baikal area (excluding small vessels) not equipped with devices for collecting and returning oil-contaminated, bilge, sewage water and production/consumption waste, and vessels that have not been certified for operation.

Federal Target Program “Protection of Lake Baikal and ensuring social and economic development of Baikal Natural Area for 2012–2020” approved by the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 847 of August 21, 2012, includes Clause 24 “Construction of tourism and recreation infrastructure at specially protected natural areas located within BNA”, which stipulates development and improvement of transport infrastructure facilities (wharfs and piers, vehicle parking lots); establishing waste management infrastructure within specially protected natural areas, local sewage and waste treatment facilities; construction of other engineering infrastructure, electricity supply, communications, heating, water pipelines, etc.

Small vessels

Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 835 of December 23, 2004 “On approving the Regulation on State Inspection for Small Vessels under the Ministry for Civil Defense, Emergencies and Mitigation of Natural Disasters” authorizes the State Inspection for Small Vessels to perform its activities with regards to small vessels owned by individuals and legal entities, docking facilities and other floating objects/facilities, beaches and other mass recreation areas at water shores, crossings (except ferry crossings) using small vessels and ice crossings, as well as pontoon bridges at inland waterways not included in the List of inland waterways of the Russian Federation.

The Law of the Russian Federation No. 36-FZ of April 23, 2012 makes the following changes to the Merchant Shipping Code of the Russian Federation and the Inland Water Transport Code of the Russian Federation related to the definition and status of small vessels:

Control over small vessel operation in the Baikal territory is performed by State Inspection for Small Vessels (SISV) under the Ministry for Emergencies Headquarters, Centers for Irkutsk Oblast and the Republic of Buryatia. As of end of 2012, there were 7,390 small vessels registered at Lake Baikal (up from 7,290 at the end of 2011), including:

- 2,192 vessels in Irkutsk Oblast (2,155 in 2011). The growth in the number of small vessels is due to increased number of newly registered craft;

- 5,198 vessels in the Republic of Buryatia (5,135 in 2011).

Key performance indicators of the SISV operation at Lake Baikal in 2005-2012

Conclusions

1. The number of inland water transport vessels registered at Lake Baikal and put in classification register with the East Siberian Branch of the Russian River Registry in 2012 dropped by 19% compared to 2011, constituting 199 vessels (vs. 245 in 2011), due to changes introduced to the Inland Water Transport Code of the Russian Federation.

2. The number of small vessels registered at Lake Baikal increase in 2012 vs. 2011 in Irkutsk Oblast – by 2% (from 2,155 to 2,192 craft) and in the Republic of Buryatia – by 1% (from 5,135 to 5,198 craft).

Source: the Government report on the status of Lake Baikal and the measures for its protection in 2012 published by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation.