The keel-laying ceremony for two new crabbing vessels to be built for Magadan fishing company Mag Sea International at the Khabarovsk Shipyard took place online, with a bare minimum of persons actually present at the event.
The ceremony had originally been planned for the 31st of March, but as this date fell during the shutdown week, it had to be postponed.
Due to the ongoing Covid-19 situation, the decision was taken to conduct the ceremony for the two Project 03141 vessels with mainly online participation.
The Governor of the Magadan Region Sergey Nosov and the General Director of Mag-Sea International, Mikhail Kotov, took part in the ceremony through video-conferencing. Speeches were made by the Governor of Khabarovsk Territory Sergey Furgal, the Head of the Khabarovsk Branch of the Shipping Register Anatoly Lebedev and the General Director of KhSZ JSC Igor Vasko.
The contracts for the two 63.27 metre LOA, 10.60 metre beam crabbing vessels were signed back in January. The two crab catchers are designed to have accommodation for crews of up to 21, a 45-day endurance and to have 1618kW of man engine power.
According to the Khabarovsk Shipyard, part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation, construction of these vessels is possible due to the investment quotas programme designed to stimulate both fishing and shipbuilding sectors in Russia.
This contract is expected to be the first of several for the Khabarovsk Shipyard, which is in discussion with other vessel operators. Building new crabbing vessels could keep the Khabarovsk Shipyard busy for some years to come.
