Severnaya Verf (part of Russia’s largest shipbuilding group United Shipbuilding Corporation) has launched Gandvik-1, the first of three processor longliners for fishing company Virma, part of the Karelian Fishing Fleet (KRF).
The contract for the three longliners was concluded at the end of 2017 and the three Virma vessels and one for Globus are being built to a MT1112XL design by Norwegian naval architect Marin Teknikk, with documentation prepared by Russian design bureau Forss-Marin.
The MT1112XL longliners measure 59 metres overall, with a 13 metre beam and have 2700kW main engines. The longliners are to be fitted out with automated longline systems and factory decks with capacity to produce 25 tonnes per day.
Gandvik-1 is to be followed by Gandvik-2 and Gandvik-3, and Marlin, under construction for Globus, and these vessels represent a new method of fishing for these companies. These are all being built under the Russian state’s investment quotas programme, designed to stimulate investment in the Russian fisheries sector.
The Gandvik name is drawn from the mediaeval Scandinavian name for the White Sea.
As the first vessel in the series was launched, hull construction of the second is in progress and blocks are being assembled to form the hull of the third. The longliners are expected to fish for cod and haddock in the Barents and Norwegian Seas.
