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  • 2017 May 24

    Vitaly Gvozdev: We have designed a crab boat for the first time in Russia

    New Russian design company Nordic Engineering JSC established by a large German shipbuilder, Nordic Yards Holding GmbH, has obtained from its parent company the most advanced technologies and entered the market of Russia. Today, this fully Russian engineering company has asserted itself with a unique project of a crab boat that can cost just $10-12 mln, says Vitaly Gvozdev, Director General of Nordic Engineering JSC.

    - Mr. Gvozdev, could you, please, tell about your company.

    - Nordic Engineering left the structure of its major shareholder, Nordic Yards GmbH, in December 2016. As a Russian design company we are only several months old but we hold the competence obtained earlier.

    I would remind, for many years Nordic Yards Holding GmbH has been taking part in all German shipbuilding projects including those on construction of sophisticated rescue ships for a Russian customer. We have always acted as a consultant under Russian orders being, I could say, a guide to Russia. So now we are absolutely prepared for working and designing in Russia and we can do it for reasonable money. Besides, we are ready to provide a range of different services in the market of marine and river designs.

    - Why have you opted for a Russian market when Nordic Yards was reorganized?

    - Russia is a large market with high potential despite the crises developments worldwide. Russia is globally attractive for all leading shipbuilders and suppliers of equipment. In Russia, we see a wide support from the state and private business. Therefore, we think the future belongs to domestic shipbuilding in Russia. We cooperate with large state shipyards, members of the United Shipbuilding Corporation, and with private ones like Okskaya Shipyard JSC (UCL Holding). And we are ready to compete with foreign shipbuilders.

    The shipbuilding market of CIS countries is also interesting for us and we are negotiating possible cooperation with companies in these countries.

    Nordic Yards Holding GmbH has handed over to Nordic Engineering absolutely all competences, best practices and findings of engineering surveys related to construction of sophisticated offshore structures, vessels, rescue fleet, offshore platforms, passenger and shipping ships, etc. There are best practices including those in the field of optimal hull shape that are among the most significant aspects in designing of any Arctic class ship. We are going to apply all those technologies in domestic shipbuilding. I think we can present our work as localization of German principles and approaches in Russia engineering.

    Nordic Engineering JSC is not only a design organisation. We offer our potential customers a number of other services including project support, post-warranty maintenance or even project modernization as well as selection of a shipyard and, if necessary, conditions of financing.

    - A successful debut in any market is guaranteed by an exclusive offer. What is the project you offer in the shipbuilding market of Russia?

    - As of today, all crab boats are old vessels that underwent conversion. After 3-5 years of operation following the modernization and repair more old vessels are acquired and the history repeats itself. For the first time in Russia we have developed a dedicated crab boat design complying with all current requirements in the field of safe navigation. The ship is comfortable, ergonomic and easy to operate.

    The vessel is intended for catching and freezing of crab. It is also equipped for processing and transportation of frozen goods and for transportation of live crab. 

    The length of the crab boat is about 60 metres, width - 11 metres, capacity – about 1,200 tonnes, endurance – up to 55 days.

    Quite a small ship can carry 4,500-4,700 conical crab traps.

    The project is currently being considered by the Far East Crab Catchers Association. We are looking forward to feedback, questions and comments. It is interesting, how much were the fishermen “heard” before we started, to what extent we translated that into the design. Perhaps, we will change something to polish the design.

    - What is the cost of a crab boat built to the design of Nordic Engineering?

    In June we will provide Russian shipyards with our crab boat design for calculation of the ship cost. According to our preliminary estimations, such a ship can cost no more than $10-12 mln.

    I think most of Russian shipyards are able to build this crab boat. It should be noted that the competence of our personnel also allows for construction of this ship at foreign shipyards. Yet, I think it should be built in Russia. State support measures like “underkiel quotas” bill covering small and medium capacity vessels and “utilization grants” will allow for fast and economically viable construction.

    I suppose that the first series of crab boats will number at least 5 units.  The lead ship can be built within 18 months provided that the shipyard and subcontractors involved in supply of components operate as scheduled. The series can be completed within three years.

    Interviewed by Nadezhda Malysheva