When Siberia shivers, it's time to fix ships in the ice VideoYAKUTSK, Russia - When the Siberian winter bites and the mighty Lena River freezes, workers at the Yakutsk shipyard brace for a backbreaking but vital task - vymorozka.
As Siberias summer is so short, freighters must be kept moving while the river, whose 4,400 km (2,735 miles) carry the regions economic lifeblood, is navigable. Repairs must be done in winter, when the river is frozen and the ships are wedged tight in the ice.
Vymorozka, which translates as freezing out, is the process of cutting away the ice from around a ships hull with chainsaws, then pickaxes and hammers, exposing areas needing repair, which are usually below the waterline.
It is a practice unique to Siberia, and has been going on as long as locals can remember.
Vymorozka is arduous and tedious; workers endure temperatures as low as -50 Celsius (-58 Fahrenheit). The work may seem brutal, but it requires the accuracy and patience of surgery. The colder it is, the better.
December and November were rather warm. The freeze is happening slowly. But the frost has begun, it is 46 (below zero, Celsius) today, so its all wonderful, said Alexander Azarov, chief of the...
Read More