The Yantar Shipyard in Kaliningrad, part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation, Russia’s largest shipbuiler, has wheeled the country’s largest trawler out of the fabrication hall ahead of extensive outfitting on the yard’s slipway.
Ordered by the RK Lenina collective farm in the Russian Far East, work started on the 121-metre, 21 metre breadth Viktor Gavrilov in 2019. This is easily the largest of the new fishing vessels ordered under the Russian government’s investment quotas initiative.
It is intended to fish for pelagic species in the North-West Pacific, as well as operating as a mother ship with processing capacity for frozen and canned products as well as fishmeal and fish oil.
There’s little doubt that the 5670WSD build has been considerably delayed, and a number of the western companies originally expected to supply Viktor Gavrilov’s design, deck, processing and more are now out of the picture, due to the sanctions in place in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. No information has been made available as to how the owners and the yard aim to cope with these suppliers and contractors no longer being involved.
The initial time frame given for Viktor Gavrilov’s delivery was 2003 – although with the main engine, shaft, propeller and a great deal of othe requipment yet to be installed four years into the trawler’s build, any likelihood of sticking to the original 2023 delivery date is clearly out of the question.
