Russian Fishery Company fleet renewal to reduce carbon footprint by 50%

The new fishing vessels built for Russian Fishery Company (RFC) will be environmentally friendly and provide the most economical levels of energy efficiency. Ensuring that CO2 emissions per ton of fish weight will be reduced by 50% compared with existing vessels.

100% of catch will be processed into final products (mainly fillet, mince and surimi). Waste from main production will be used to produce fish oil and fishmeal. The steam required for this process will be provided by a waste-heat boiler that uses the heat of exhaust gases. Excess fish oil can also be used as fuel for the boiler. As a result, the amount of fuel required in the production of fishmeal will be reduced by 2.5x per ton of raw materials compared to existing fleet.

Energy savings can also come from the recover electricity from winches when setting up the trawl. This energy will be used for production requirements and for onboard consumption.

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The 11 supertrawlers that will be built for RFC will be the largest and most technologically advanced fishing vessels in Russia. Each new vessel is designed for an annual catch of over 60,000 tons of fish, which is 2.5x higher than productivity of current vessels that form the basis of the fishing fleets in the Far East of the Russian Federation.

The features of the new fleet will significantly increase production capacity and maximize safety. It will also be environmentally friendly and will improve the working and leisure conditions for the crew onboard. The vessels will be equipped with a modern factory capable of zero waste processing of the catch into products with high added value with primary focus on Pollock Fillet and Surimi.