With two factory longliners already under construction for Virma, part of the Karelian Fishing Group, the Northern Shipyard in St Petersburg has signed a contract to deliver a third 59 metre vessel.
The longliners are 59 metre LOA, 13 metre breadth MT111XL longliners, and this third vessel is scheduled to be complete in 2021 by the Northern Shipyard (Severnaya Verf) which is part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation.
According to Virma’s managing director Ivan Pasynikov, the decision to order a third longliner is due to the need to update the company’s capacity and the favourable terms offered by the yard. This is the latest order in a burst of activity at Russian shipyards following the government’s investment quota initiative to boost investment in new tonnage and shore-based processing capacity.
The three MT1112XL longliners are designed for efficient operation, using static gear and laid out for production of high-quality fish with a 30 tonne/day throughput capacity passing through the zero-waste processing deck. The Virma longliners are expected to target primarily haddock and cod.
