Formal ceremonies with the national flag being flown for the first time on board new fishing vessels have taken place at the Admiralty and Northern shipyards in St Petersburg.
The Russian flag was raised on board factory trawler Kapitan Vdovichenko, built for the Russian Fishery Company at the Admiralty yard and on board longliner Gandvik-1 and factory trawler Kapitan Sokolov at the Northern yard, both being built for companies within the Norebo Group.
Kapitan Vdovichenko is the largest vessel of its kind to be built at a Russian shipyard for many years and will be deployed by its owners on pelagic fisheries in Far Eastern waters once it has been delivered. It is preceded by the first of its class, Vladimir Limanov, which was delivered last year by a Turkish shipyard.
The 108-metre, 21-metre breadth Kapitan Vdovichenko has an 8000kW main engine and 5500 cubic metres of refrigerated fishroom space, as well as accommodation for 139 deck and factory crew.
Built to an ST-192 design, it is expected to operate on pelagic pollock and herring fisheries in the Bering Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk, producing fillets, minced fish and fishmeal.
The second vessel in the series, Mekhanik Maslak, was floated off in June last year and initial trials are being carried out. Construction continues on the third and fourth vessels in the series of ten, Mekhanik Sizov and Kapitan Martynov.
According to Federal Fisheries Agency director Ilya Shestakov, nine new vessels under the investment quota programme have been delivered, and fourteen more are on the way, with a total of 38 expected to be delivered by 2025.
