Construction has begun on a new 90.65 metre, 18 metre breadth factory trawler for owners in Magadan in the Russian Far East.
The Pacific Fishery Company opted for a combination that has worked well for other operators both in Russia and elsewhere, with the new vessel designed by Skipsteknisk and built at Tersan, where a keel-laying ceremony has been held to celebrate the latest stage of the build.
‘The date of laying the keel is seen as the date of birth of the vessel, and this will later appear in the ship’s documents throughout its entire working life. The rate of construction has taken us by surprise. The active phase at the shipyard began less than three months ago, and now the keel has already been laid. Now the process of fabricating sections is under way,’ said Pacific Fishing Company general director Mikhail Kotov.
‘The construction is well ahead of schedule, so we have no doubts that the Turkish partners will launch it by the end of this year.’
He commented that processing on board will be highly automated, with production requiring virtually no heavy labour as the new vessel will produce a variety of frozen fillets, minced fish, pollock liver and roe, fishmeal and fish oil from Alaska pollock, herring, squid and other species in a factory deck with a 450 tonne/day capacity.
The fish oil produced on board will be used as key raw material for the production ashore of the company’s Omega 3 supplement, with this new production facility under construction in Magadan.
Mikhail Kotov said that staff will be travelling to Korea to train in production processes with Korean partners, and with the factory’s structure in place, they expect it to be operational later this year.
