Russian sea ferry Georg Ots will arrive on Saturday to the port of Vladivostok in Russia's Far East to serve as a floating hotel during the 2012 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, RIA Novosti reported.
"The passenger ferry Georg Ots is expected to arrive in Vladivostok on Saturday morning. The ship will become a floating hotel for the participants and guests of the APEC summit to be held in Vladivostok in 2012," said the Rosmorport company, the owner of the ferry.
Georg Ots, which is not designed for navigation through the ice floe, became the first passenger ship in history to pass through the waters of the Arctic, sailing from St. Petersburg along the eastern borders of Russia to Vladivostok.
Russian ice breakers escorted the ferry through the Northern Sea Route using satellite images.
According to Rosmorport, the ship is expected to ferry passengers between Vladivostok and the island of Sakhalin and the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia's Far East prior to the APEC summit.
The 12,600-ton ship was built in Poland for the Estonian Shipping Company in 1980. Since 2002, she ran between St. Petersburg and Russia's Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad for St. Petersburg Shipping.
The ship can carry 1,200 passengers and 107 passenger cars. It was named after the famed Estonian baritone, Georg Ots.