Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin Visits the Pipelay Vessel Solitaire
Sept. 20, 2010 | Zug | VIP on board the Solitaire: The Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin paid a visit to the world’s largest pipelay vessel Solitaire to inform himself about the progress of the pipe-laying works for the Nord Stream Pipeline. During his two hour visit and accompanied by Nord Stream’s Managing Director Matthias Warnig, he toured some of the work stations on board such as welding and the quality control and testing stations, and he was informed about the progress of the demanding construction process.
Vladimir Putin also used this opportunity to talk to members of the staff and find out right at their working place about their working conditions and the atmosphere aboard. He also held a discussion with representatives of the Solitaire and Allseas, who informed the Prime Minister about the unique performance of the vessel and work in progress. Putin expressed a high opinion of the Nord Stream project implementation and the attention paid to its technical and ecological safety.
The Solitaire has been operating in Russian waters since 1 September and lays about 2.5 kilometres of the pipeline in the Gulf of Finland per day.
Pictures are available for download at Ria Novosti: http://visualrian.com/images/item/763557
