It is reported that subsidiary Bergen Group BMV has signed a NOK 2.7 billion ($435.3 million) contract to deliver two advanced pelagic trawlers and research vessels to Aqueda Shipping Limited and Mariora Shipping Limited. The company told that the delivered time for these vessels is 2011 and the contract is valued. It is informed that the two Russian companies have been set up by Vladivostok-based Rybsudprom together with investors. Rybsudprom has an option for two identical vessels, taking the potential contract value to NOK 5.4 billion (about $870 million).
Bergen CEO Terje Sjumarken opined that the contract is a big one after long and tough negotiations with the Russians were required before finally could sign the contract. It is said that the vessels will be designed by Skipsteknisk in Ålesund, which has been worked on project for several years. The vessels have a length of 130 m (426 ft) and a width of 24m (78.75 ft), and will fish in the southern Pacific and Antarctica for pelagic species, mainly horse mackerel, as well as krill.
It is told that the ordered vessels will have a freezing capacity of as much as 600 tons a day, which is nearly twice the capacity of any existing vessels. Sjumarken expressed that securing this order was a Herculean task and their strategy to be the preferred supplier of large and advanced offshore, fishing and research vessels. The contracts secure full employment at Bergen Group BMV until the end of 2011, and if the options are exercised, until the middle of 2012.
