Overview of construction of new fishing vessels for Russian companies at domestic yards

Shipbuilding for Russian fishing fleet became quite active just about three years ago, and by today a few ships have been handed over to customers, calmly surfing waters and performing the tasks assigned to them in terms of catch. However, there are still many trawlers, seiners, longliners, and crabbers on the slipways, near the quay walls, completing construction or awaiting trials. Megafishnet will look at what shipyards they are being built and what happens to them based on a report prepared by Korabel.ru and own expertise.

Pacific Russia

On June 12, on the territory of the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Shipyard, according to project 04130, developed by the St. Petersburg company FORSS Technologies, a small fishing seiner was laid for the Lenin Kolkhoz.  This small vessel will be engaged in catching and transporting raw materials in the cargo hold in bulk and will replace the old vessels of MRS-150 (Small Fishing Seiner) project. It is planned to build six seiners in total.

Specification of the project 04130 seiner:

• Overall length - 26.45 m;
• Length between perpendiculars - 25.7 m;
• Beam - 8.0 m;
• Width at design waterline - 8.0 m;
• Draft at design waterline - 2.2 m;
• Board height - 3.65 m;
• Main engine power, - 441 kW;
• Displacement - 306.3 tons;
• Gross tonnage - 211 reg. tons;
• Crew, – 7;
• Hold, – 90 м³.

Khabarovsk shipyard continues construction of two crab catchers under project 03141. The contract for the construction with Mag-Sea International LLC (a member of Tikhrybcom group) was signed on January 15, 2020. To date, the hulls of both vessels have been formed, foundations for the main equipment have been installed.  For the lead crab catcher, the equipment has been delivered by 80% and will continue to arrive until the end of the summer.

As for the main engine, on the first vessel its installation will begin in about October, on the second - at the end of this year or even at the beginning of the next. There are plans to complete both vessels construction in 2023. By the way, crab catchers are being built within federal extra fishing quotas versus investment obligations program.

Specifications of the crab catcher project 03141:

• Class of the vessel - (РС) КМ Ice2 (REF) fishing vessel;
• Overall length - 63.27 m;
• Beam - 10.6 m;
• Board height (up to the upper deck) - 4.6 m;
• Gross tonnage - 1048 tons;
• Main engine power - 1618 kW;
• Speed - 14 knots;
• Crew - 21 people;
• Autonomy - 45 days.

The crab catchers of project 03141 will get crab and shrimp with traps, and then store the catch in chilled sea water until it is delivered to the port.

At Nakhodka shipyard (NSRZ), according to the latest news, they performed the technological loading of the main engine to one of the first crab catchers (project 5712, building number - 029). In a way, there are three lead ships at once, since at NSRZ they are built in the option 3 + 3 + 2. The well-known DAMEN was the designer for the crabbers, the customer was Antey group of companies.

Specifications of the project 5712 crab catcher:

• Russian Maritime Register of Shipping (RS) class - KMIce2, AUT3, (REF), Fishing Vessel.
• Overall length - 57.70 m;
• Length between perpendiculars - 56.80 m;
• Max. draft according to strength conditions - 4.84 m;
• Board height to the main deck - 7.50 m;
• Aft working deck area, approx. - 140 m2;
• Gross tonnage - 1,550 register tons;
• Living quarters - 24 people;
• Maximum speed - 12.6 knots;
• Endurance of the vessel - at least 40 days;
• Power of the main engine (Yanmar) - 1620 kW;
• Power diesel (MAN) - generators (Leroy Somer) (2 pcs.) - 544 kW;
• Power of the emergency diesel generator - 92 kW;
• Lifting capacity of the crane-manipulator (Palfinger) - 3.5 tons.

Eastern Shipyard (Vladivostok) portfolio includes five crab catchers of projects 03141 and 03140. The ships will catch live crab and manufacture finished products, respectively. Four vessels will be transferred to Sigma Marine Technology group of companies: two crab catchers each for Sever LLC and Dalnevostochnoe Poberezhye LLC.  Another vessel is being built by order of Voskhod LLC. The designer of the vessels is SC Viking.

Up-to-date information on the state of ships:

Okhotsk, No. 501 - is in its final stage. Mooring trials are coming to the end, the ship is being prepared to sail. At the time of the request for information, living cabins were finishing and equipment connected and tuned. The contractual deadline for the crab catcher delivery is November 2021, but the company plans to complete the work ahead of schedule.

No. 502 - the hull formation is 99.6% complete, there is only one section left to be manufactured weighing 1.8 tons out of 86 sections of 469.25 tons total weight. Installation of equipment for refrigeration, engine rooms, boatswain's storeroom, compressor and aggregate is in progress. The following premises have been painted: boatswain store, power unit, compressor room, hold No. 1, tiller room, spare parts store, engine room, refrigerator compartment. It is planned to launch the crabber and complete its construction this year.

No. 503 - the hull formation work is 99.5% complete. Delivery under the contract - 2022. No. 504 - 47.3% of the hull has been assembled, another 46.3% of sections have been manufactured, and they are being assembled on the slipway. Another 6% of the hull is at the stage of metal blanking. Delivery under the contract - 2023. No. 505 - the keel has been layed. Delivery under the contract - 2024.

The shipyard is in live contact with the designer and customers, which allows them to quickly resolve any issues during construction. To be more precise, the designer and the customers representatives’ offices are located on the yard territory, in the boathouse # 2, where the crab catchers construction is underway. Both the designer and the customers, as we were told at the enterprise, respond positively to the progress of construction. The most important role in this is played by the fact that Eastern Shipyard meets the contractual deadlines.

The shipyard executives and key specialists make frequent visits to other enterprises in order to exchange experience in shipbuilding. If experts see an interesting idea that can increase productivity, they try to implement it.

I would like to note that at the Eastern Shipyard they did not hesitate to say that the final preparation of the documentation for the crabbers proceeded almost in parallel with the construction progress (* which, by the way, happens with fishing vessels at many factories - author's note). There were changes and improvements, some documents appeared just before the mooring tests.  But proximity to the designer and constant interaction with him made it possible to avoid problems and changes in the timing of the ships building.

At the end of 2021, it is planned to start construction of the first of three longliners of project 03142 at the Eastern Shipyard. The others will begin to be built as early as 2022.

Western Russia

Here our focus is on Okskaya Shipyard (Navashino), Nobel Brothers Shipyard (Rybinsk), and Krasnoe Sormovo (Nizhny Novgorod).

At Okskaya shipyard, three crab catchers-processors are being built according to the DAMEN project 5712Р for the Russian Crab Group of Companies, the keel-laying of the lead ship happened on March 18, 2021. The first processor is planned to be handed over to the customer and put into operation in 2023.

The crab catchers-processors will be equipped with modern processing factories, that will include hydraulic tables, semi-automatic freezers, an elevator for products delivery to the hold, etc. The vessels use will help Russian Crab Group of Companies to work more efficiently as both production and storage of frozen products will double in comparison with the vessels they already have.

The lead ship will receive the name "Captain Manzholin" in honor of Nikolai Platonovich Manzholin, fishing fleet captain, honorary citizen of Vladivostok.

Specifications of the project 5712P crab-processor:

• Length - 57.70 m;
• Beam - 12.60 m;
• Autonomy - 40 days;
• Full speed - 12.3 knots;
• Power of the main engine - 1600 kW;
• Power of the bow thruster - 400 kW;
• Crew capacity - 32 people;
• Processing and production of finished products per day - 15 tons;
• The freezing hold volume - 500 m³.

Nobel Brothers Shipyard is currently building two crab catchers under DAMEN project 5712 for Aqua-Invest LLC (Nakhodka), which are scheduled to be commissioned in 2022. The vessel will be equipped with standard traps and nine RSW tanks with chilled sea water for storing live crab with a total volume of 640 m³.

Specifications of the project 5712:

• Russian Maritime Register of Shipping (RS) class - KMIce2, AUT3, (REF), Fishing Vessel.
• Overall length - 57.70 m;
• Length between perpendiculars - 56.80 m;
• Max. draft according to strength conditions - 4.84 m;
• Depth to the main deck - 7.50 m;
• Aft working deck area, approx. - 140 m2;
• Gross tonnage - 1,550 register tons;
• Living quarters - 24 people;
• Maximum speed - 12.6 knots;
• Endurance of the vessel - at least 40 days;
• Power of the main engine (Yanmar) - 1620 kW;
• Power diesel (MAN) - generators (Leroy Somer) (2 pcs.) - 544 kW;
• Power of the emergency diesel generator - 92 kW;
• Lifting capacity of the crane-manipulator (Palfinger) - 3.5 tons.

Also, Nobel Brothers Shipyard is planning to release 4 fishing trawlers of T40V project by 2023 (the Sea Tech design bureau developed the concept, Adomat LLC makes design documentation of the ship under construction and working design documentation) for Sokra Fish Processing Plant LLC. The lead ship was laid on May, 25.

T40V will operate in the Far East area, where it will fish by means of bottom or pelagic trawls, Danish seine, and then deliver the catch to a port or to a mother vessel at sea.

Specification of the trawler T40V:

• Maximum length - 44.15 m;
• Length on summer cargo waterline - 41.90 m;
• Beam - 12.00 m;
• Depth amidships - 5.15 m;
• Empty draft - 2.7 m;
• Draft on summer cargo waterline - 4.1 m;
• Cruising range - about 5600 miles.

At Krasnoye Sormovo, they are also working on crab catchers under the KSP01 project, developed by the Marine Engineering Bureau - design-SPb for the North West Fishing Consortium (order for five units). The crab-processor of the KSP01 project is a full-cycle vessel for fishing crab of various species at depths from 20 to 400 m and for frozen products production at sea. The vessel's equipment is designed for catching and processing up to 60 tons of red king crab per day.

Specifications of the KSP01 crab catcher:

• Overall length - 61.90 m;
• Beam - 15 m;
• Maximum draft - 6.40 m;
• Live crab tanks - 60 m3;
• Freezing cargo hold - 1000 m3;

• Russian Maritime Register of Shipping (RMRS) class: KM Ice3, AUT1, PMS, TMS, BWM (T) (REF) Fishing Vessel.
• Areas of operation: North Atlantic, including the Barents Sea, the Norwegian Sea, the Greenland Sea and the Arctic seas;

Since this year we managed to visit "Krasnoe Sormovo", we can say that the construction of KSP01 is proceeding normally. However, this is the first time such a ship is being made at the shipyard, and from time to time they inevitably have to face various non-standard tasks. The company closely interacts with the customer both in terms of documentation development, and in terms of getting approval on the equipment technical characteristics, as well as making a particular technical decision right during construction. The construction is supervised by a specialist who has built a similar vessel in Turkey.

It is planned to involve external specialists to the construction process to apply insulation of freezing rooms where crab and bait are stored. Own employees will be trained to metallize the case. Deputy General Director for Production Oleg Tyukaev noted that by the fifth order, the labor intensity for the crabbers construction will decrease by 10-15%.

North-Western Russia

It was in this region that the largest number of shipyards are concentrated, who started building domestic fishing fleet. It will be about the Admiralty shipyards, Pella, Northern Shipyard, the Rostr shipyard, the Onega shipyard; also at the Vyborg shipyard, and Yantar shipyard in Kaliningrad.

Admiralty shipyard refused to participate in our survey, that’s why we present publicly available information from their website.

Today the company is working on a series of ten large freezer fishing trawlers for the Russian Fishery Company LLC. The ST-192RFC project was developed by the Norwegian Bureau Skipstechnik; the lead trawler construction place – Tersan, Turkey. Marine Engineering Bureau worked on the technical project ST-192 adaptation for the construction in Russia. Quite recently, on the 5th of June, at the Admiralty shipyards, the fifth ship was laid down, the name was given "Captain Yunak".

Note that at the Admiralty shipyards mentioned (further in quotes in italics follows a direct quote from the Admiralty shipyards website) "the series is being laid in pairs, two vessels per year. The first trawler Captain Vdovichenko was launched in March 2020. Today, mooring trials are under way. Fish processing and fishmeal factories equipment is being installed, work is underway to connect an electric cables and living cabins construction. On the second ship of the series, "Mechanic Maslak", launched in June last year, outfitting work is also underway.

The second pair of trawlers - "Mechanic Sizov" and "Captain Martynov" - were laid down in June and August 2020, respectively. Their launch is scheduled for 2021.

Large freezer fishing trawlers of ST-192 project are designed for catching pollock and herring with a pelagic trawl on the Eastern coast of the Russian Federation, in the Barents and Okhotsk Seas (* most likely the author of the text meant the Bering Sea, which is really in the east, and not the Barents Sea, located on northwest - author's note). The capacities of fish processing and fishmeal factories allow production 60-80 tons of fish fillets, 80 tons of surimi minced meat and 250 tons of fish meal daily (** most likely there is some mistake here as daily catch of the volume necessary for production of both 60MT of APO fillet and 80MT of surimi is simply impossible in Russian part of Pacific, and 250MT is probably fishmeal hold capacity, but not daily production – translator’s note). " (end of quotation from the site).

Specifications of ST-192RFC:

• Capacity of cargo holds - 5500 m³;
• Main freezing hold - 4000 m³;
• Length - 108 m;
• Beam - 21 m;
• Autonomy for fuel reserves - 45 days;
• Crew - 139 people, including the personnel of the fish processing complex;
• Full speed - 15 knots.

Northern Shipyard

The shipyard is building a series of ten fishing trawlers-processors of unlimited navigation area of project 170701 (developed by the St. Petersburg design bureau "Nautik Rus") for Norebo Group, as well as three longliners of project MT1112XL for Virma Fishing Company LLC and one longline vessel for Globus LLC. In addition, Northern Shipyard has signed contracts with NOREBO Group for the construction of four longline vessels of project 200101. Work is to begin in 2022.

Currently, 9 trawlers are being built under the project 170701. The tenth trawler of the series will be laid down in August. The lead and the first serial trawler have been launched. At the lead ship "Kapitan Sokolov", the main cable is being tightened, work continues on the alignment of the shaft line and the of main engine mechanisms, loading and installation of the fish factory. The installation of equipment for the living area has started: sanitary cabins, deck coverings, paneling, painting and insulation work is underway in the cabins.

On the first serial trawler Kapitan Geller, the main shipboard, deck-fishing and refrigeration equipment has been installed, outfitting work is underway.

Of the project XL1112MT longliners, two are in the completion phase, and two are in the process of forming a hull. In particular, outfitting work is being carried out on the head longliner Gandwick-1. On the ship, bow, stern and signal masts have been mounted. Work continues on tightening the power cable, laying and commissioning pipelines, installing electrical equipment, installing a fish processing factory, finishing the freezer hold.

At the first serial longliner Marlin, work continues on tightening the power cable, laying and commissioning pipelines, installing electrical equipment, installing a fish processing factory, and finishing the freezer hold.

Specifications of the trawler under construction project 170701:

• Maximum (overall) length - 81.6 m;
• Beam - 16 m;
• Speed - 15 knots;
• Displacement - 5500 tons;
• Main engine power - 6.2 MW;
• Total production capacity - 150 tons of fish per day;
• Freezing capacity - 100 tons per day.

Since Northern Shipyard sent a detailed response to our request, we can also add that there are no special difficulties with equipment suppliers at the enterprise. However, due to the pandemic, there are certain difficulties in organizing installation supervision work carried out by foreign suppliers. To ensure their arrival at the plant, it is necessary to resolve many issues.

At Northern Shipyard, a close and productive interaction has been established between customers, the shipyard and the designers. Customer representatives are permanently present at the plant and participate in the production process.

The developed design documentation for the ship under construction does not have fundamental deviations from the approved concept projects. However, since the construction began before the final approval of the package and working design documentation by the Register, the documentation is revised directly during the construction of the head and first serial ships.

At Rostr shipyard (Novaya Ladoga), according to the latest data, on December 25, 2020, a sea trawler of the GM 3.02 project was laid for Murmanfish products company, and since then there have been no fundamentally new reports on the construction progress in the news feed.

The vessel under construction with a stern trawling is intended for catching bottom fish, processing and further freezing of fresh catch. It is noteworthy that the operation of the vessel is possible at water temperatures from -3 to +25 degrees and air temperatures from -25C to + 25C.

Specifications GM 3.02:

• Length - 35 m;
• Beam - 10.4 m;
• Draft - 4.5 m;
• Hold Volume - 365 m³;
• Crew - 17.

Pella shipyard. Two crab catchers of project 03070 are being built here by order of the Ostrovnoy-Krab Far East fishing company (Sakhalin Oblast). The project is unique as it was developed by the design department of the plant itself on the basis of PL475 longliner.  I would very much like to learn the fate of these ships, but we have not received any fresh information about them.

But there is something to say about the two trawlers of project 1701. One of these ships, named Scorpion, being almost completed, found not the best fame in March of this year, suddenly capsizing literally out of the blue. As a result, the trawler's stability was restored, but questions about the Scorpion are still ongoing. Thus, the FEST Group of Companies (the customer of the two trawlers) firmly declares that the project has failed, and it was decided to abandon the flooded vessel. The second ship "Lev" is currently 50% completed, and the construction time will have to be extended, which the customer, by the way, is ready to go for, however, in his opinion, the shipyard has problems, since it will be difficult to continue construction without additional cash injections. ...

Specifications of the trawler project 1701:

• Length - 61 m;
• Beam - 14 m;
• Draft - 5.9 m;
• Gross tonnage - about 1600 tons;
• Fish hold capacity - 1200 m3;
• Maximum speed - 13.5 knots;
• Autonomy - 30 days;
• Crew - 38.

It should be noted that the trawler of project 1701 is a technically rich vessel. There is a fish factory equipped with several lines for fish processing and freezing. In this regard, one can understand a customer who does not want to buy out a trawler with submerged equipment. On the other hand, Pella will still restore the ship and try to sell it.

Vyborg Shipyard (VSZ).

Last year the lead trawler-processor Barents Sea was handed over to the Arkhangelsk Trawl Fleet JSC (part of the North-West Fishery Consortium (SZRK)). Barents Sea became the first large trawler built at a Russian shipyard in the last 30 years under the class of the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping. In total, four vessels of the KMT01 project will be built at Vyborg shipyard.

Specification of the trawler-processor KMT01:

• Length - 86.00 m;
• Beam - 17.00;
• Maximum draft - 8.90;
• Autonomy - 30 days;
• Freezing holds capacity - 2500 m³;
• Fish meal holding capacity - 350 m³;
• Cans hold capacity - 100 m³;
• Freezing equipment for finished products capacity - 100 tons / day;
• Fish processing plant for fillet production capacity - 40 tons / day (by raw materials);
• Fishmeal plant capacity (fish meal + fish oil) - 60 tons / day (by raw materials);
• Cannery capacity - 5000 conventional cans / day;
• Main engine Ppower - 1 х 6000 kW;
• Crew - 49;
• Speed - 15 knots.

In addition to KMT01 project, the plant is actively building KMT02. The first vessel of the KMT02 project and the serial KMT01 are to be prepared for handover soon (thanks to Vyborg Shipyard for the information provided). As of June, 5 vessels KMT01 and KMT02 have been launched and are being completed afloat. Two more KMT02 hulls, completing a series of four vessels, are at the stage of formation in the boathouse. The first KMT01 ship customer - Nord Pilgrim LLC, the second - ATLANTRYBFLOT JSC, the third - LKT Company LLC.

KMT01 and KMT02 are extremely similar projects, almost identical in design with a common concept. There are no major changes from ship to ship. Equipment for trawlers-processors is installed mainly European and domestic. Vyborg Shipyard works as closely as possible with customers, which allows them to build ships successfully. All issues are resolved in working order.

Thanks to the experience gained and the vessels delivered, today VSZ is working on a number of promising fishing projects. Vyborg Shipyard is actively exchanging experience with other enterprises building fishing vessels.

The customer speaks very positively of the trawler-processor Barents Sea. Nikolay Nazarenko, deputy general director of the SZRK for development and fleet modernization, in an interview with Korabel.ru noted that the vessel has been at sea for a month already, and has shown itself excellently, and, most importantly, its capacity is enough to catch enough fish. In the past, the lack of power was the main problem.

Onega shipbuilding and ship repair yard. Here, by Russian Crab Group of Companies order, a series of seven project 5712LS crab catchers is being built (designed by Damen Engineering, St.Petersburg). Ships’ purpose - catching and transportation of live crab.

On May 27, the main engine (medium-speed, diesel) of the new generation of the Yanmar brand, model 6EY26W, manufactured and tested in Japan, was already installed into the hull of the lead ship, laid down only on June 8, 2020. Also, the construction of the second and third crab catchers is underway at different stages of readiness: the second was laid on December 1, 2020, the third on February 2, 2021.

Specification of the project 5712LS crab catcher:

• Overall length - 57.70 m;
• Length between perpendiculars - 55.50 m;
• Beam - 12.60 m;
• Power of the main engine - 1620 kW;
• Gross tonnage - about 1300 GT;
• Speed at draft on summer waterline, at power plant capacity of 85% - 12.3 knots.

Also note that there are many innovations in the crab catchers of this project. In the opinion of the Russian Crab Group of Companies, the vessel is fully consistent with the tasks of effective fishing.

Yantar shipyard, Kaliningrad

We consider it important to note that last year the third trawler-seiner of project SK-3101R Vasily Kaplyuk, and before that Commander and Leninets, sailed from here. The designer was the Skipskompetanse AS company (Malaya, Norway), and the customer was the Lenin Kolkhoz from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. There were some minor discrepancies: during the construction process, the shipyard encountered problems with documentation, as Igor Leonov, the acting chief engineer of the shipyard, told our publication about at the time of the ships' construction.

Specifications SK-3101R:

• Overall length - 50.60 m;
• Length between perpendiculars - 43.88 m;
• Beam - 12 m;
• RSW Fish storage tanks - 800 m3;
• Main engine - 1 x 2210 kW;
• Auxillary diesel generators - 2 x 750 kW;
• Shaft generator - 1 x 1090 kW.

The customer responds well to the ships received, which are already harvesting. To our question the company answered: "The vessels work excellently!"

Also, by order of Lenin Kolkhoz Yantar is building a large freezer fishing trawler of project 5670WSD Viktor Gavrilov, which was developed by Wartsila Vostok LLC. In November 2020, the main part of the Victor Gavrilov hull was brought to an open slipway. Construction is proceeding normally; the completion deadline is 2024.

Final word

The study, of course, did not stop at just collecting information about the ships.  At least it was interesting to look at such a program already known to everyone as "extra fishing quotas versus investment obligations". As of today, five vessels have been commissioned within it, but the fact is that by 2020 it was planned to commission 18. The situation is, on the whole, clear: fishing vessels have not been built at Russian shipyards for a long time, so the deadlines have shifted to the right, but the Government has met the shipyards and fishermen requests by adjusting them.

Ilya Shestakov, then Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Head of the Federal Agency for Fishery, spoke about this in a December interview. He assured that the Federal Agency for Fishery would not allow a situation when, due to the failure of the construction deadline, fishermen would lose quotas. He also voiced important information: earlier there was a requirement according to which the ship had to be fully transferred to the customer by October 1, but the legislation will be amended soon. The last stage (equipment readjustment, testing) will be removed from this schedule. That is, if the vessel is 90-95% ready and it is clear that it is put into operation next year, then the customer must receive his quotas.

Source: korabel.ru