The Yantar Shipyard in Kaliningrad has launched the first of a series of three pelagic vessels being built for the V Lenin Fishing Collective Farm in Kamchatka.
The new Leninets is the first of a trio designed by Norwegian company Skipskompetanse and is now ready for fitting out. The next in the series are under construction and Komandor and Udarnik are expected to be launched early next year, with the three completed vessels scheduled to be delivered in 2018.
The combined purse seiner/pelagic trawlers measure 50.60m overall with a 12m beam and are outfitted with 2200kW main engines. In an innovative move, these are RSW vessels for the Russian Far East where this method is relatively new.
The launch ceremony was attended by Ilya Shestakov, Head of the Russian Fisheries Authority, Kamchatka governor Victor Ilyukhin, Sergey Tarusov, head of the V Lenin Fishing Collective Farm and Aleksey Rakhmanov, president of United Shipbuilding Corporation, of which Yantar is a part.
Speaking as the Leninets was launched, Ilya Shestakov stressed the significance of this construction project and Victor Ilyukhin commented on long period of time during which Russian shipyards did not build fishing vessels, adding that this situation is changing.
The V Lenin Fishing Collective Farm currently operates 14 vessels including five large and nine medium-sized fishing vessels, and has begun training its specialist crews to handle the new technology that the new vessels have on board.
