Cherepovets, city, southwestern Vologda oblast (region), northwest-central European Russia. Cherepovets lies on the right bank of the Sheksna River where it flows into the Rybinsk Reservoir of the Volga River.
The city’s iron and steel plant, established in 1955 and enlarged several times since, is one of the largest in Russia. Shipbuilding, fertilizer production, and timberwork are also important. The rebuilding of the Volga-Baltic Waterway, of which the Sheksna River is a part, has enhanced Cherepovets’s trading function. Pop. (2010) 312,310; (2014 est.) 316,758.