The administration of the Astrakhan region signed closing documents to establish the Southern Center for Shipbuilding and Ship Repair as a division of the United Shipbuilding Corporation.

The official ribbon-cutting ceremony for establishing the Southern Shipbuilding Center, attended by the Governor of the Astrakhan region Alexander Zhilkin and the president of the United Shipbuilding Corporation Andrey Diachkov, took place on February 4, 2013.

 The Southern Center includes the Novorossiysk, the Tuapse, and the Kriushinsky shipyards, as well as the Astrakhan Karl Marx and Lotus shipyards.