Russia to build first cruise liner in 60 years

Russia will build a cruise liner under a project in 2016, the first for the country in six decades, a Russia shipbuilding company has said.

"The country's first cruise liner is planned to be built this year since the 1950s," Aleksey Rakhmanov, president of the United Shipbuilding Corporation, was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying on Tuesday.

"Our company will also continue to construct vessels and various marine engineering for the oil and gas industries," he said at the opening of an international forum on Russia's marine industry.

The project, code-named PV300VD, could be laid down in the current year, he said, adding that the construction of a vessel will take up to three years and cost approximately 2.5 billion rubles (40 million U.S. dollars).

The cruise liner will be 462 feet (141 meters) in length and 55 feet (17 meters) in width, with a transporting capacity of about 306 passengers.

The forum, "Marine Industry of Russia-2016," is dedicated to the development of shipbuilding, port modernization, improvement of navigation, introduction of new technologies, and the production of marine engineering and civil vessels. Endi