USC designs Arctic liners with a casino on board
© RIA Novosti. Aleksey Danichev

USC designs Arctic liners with a casino on board

The United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) has designed Arctic liners costing 250-300 million euros with a helicopter landing pad and possibly even with a casino on board, head of the corporation Alexei Rakhmanov told RIA Novosti.

USC considers it necessary to develop Arctic cruise shipbuilding in Russia. The company has already designed several kinds of such liners and offers them to customers, Rakhmanov said, speaking at the SPIEF session "New Approaches to Governance, Research and Protection of the World Ocean."

"[The ship will have] a helicopter landing pad, an ice-breaker hull, an ice strake which allows the liner to freeze into ice, most likely a pod propulsion system for maneuvering and dynamic positioning, five-star interiors meant for sophisticated customers and public spaces with casinos, but only if we have permission. This is a matter that must be coordinated and specified. But if we have permission to gamble during international cruises, it could be of great help to return on investment; it will attract a fundamentally different target group. This would be Las Vegas at sea," Rakhmanov told RIA Novosti.

"[The liner will be meant] for 350 passengers, a proper five-star Arctic-class hotel. Everything will depend on the furnishings and the ice resistance of the hull. In total, about 250-300 million euros [per ship]. [As for entertainment and extreme tourism, it could be] anything, from submersion in a diving bell to jet-ski rides or tender boats that allow passengers to disembark onto a wild shore," he said.