At the Moscow Shipyard, the keel of the lead electric vessel of Project EM901L was laid, and metal cutting for the second hull began. According to the press service of the Russian Register, the customer is JSC "Vodokhod. Passenger Port", and technical supervision of the construction is carried out by specialists from the Baltic branch of RS.
The vessel, approximately 37 meters long and 8.5 meters wide, will be able to accommodate up to 168 passengers. Two 200 kW azimuth thrusters will be powered by a battery with a capacity of about 1000 kWh – twice as much as many river electric catamarans currently in operation. The design class symbol includes ice strengthening (Ice 20) and a high degree of automation.
The shipyard, opened in November 2025, is positioned as Russia's most modern full-cycle enterprise for the construction of electric vessels. The design capacity of the site is up to 20 vessels per year, with eight units planned to be launched in 2026. Thus, the start of construction of the lead EM901L vessel marks the transition from one-off orders to serial production of river passenger vessels, whose characteristics – ice class, increased battery, and high degree of automation – are laid down in the project at the stage of RS technical supervision.
