The first of a series of new crabbing vessels for Far East fishing company Russian Crab has been launched for outfitting at the Onega Shipyard.
Designed by Damen Engineering, Kapitan Alexandrov is expected to be delivered to Russian Crab in mid-2022 and six more such vessels are scheduled for delivery by 2024 as the company renews its whole fleet.
The series of crabbers under construction at the Onega yard are designed to land live catches, and three factory crabbers designed to process and freeze crab at sea are being built for Russian Crab at the Okskaya Shipyard.
Orders were placed for the two series of new vessels following quota auctions in 2019 when Russian Crab secured significant fishing rights for a variety of crab species.
‘The delivery of new vessels under the investment quota programme symbolises the transition from the hard years, to a new era of responsible regulation for the exploitation of a valuable marine resource, with new high standards of safety and comfort for crews at sea,’ said Gleb Frank, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Russian Crab Group of Companies at the launch of Kapitan Alexandrov.
‘The first stage of investment construction will allow upgrading only half of the fishing fleet. The work on updating the fleet must be continued.’
Kapitan Alexandrov is named after naval captain Georgy Ivanovich Alexandrov (1882-1939), who subsequently was appointed to manage the Kamchatka crab fishery, during which he played an important role in developing the Russian Far East fishing fleet.
