• 2018 June 9

    Through rough ways to fishing

    Russia’s backlog of orders for construction of fishing ships at domestic shipyards is a breakthrough over the recent 20 years. Local content of materials is as high as 90% while a big job is to be done in the segment of equipment so that it was replaced with products of Russian origin.

    Building in Russia

    By the order of RF Ministry of Industry and Trade, Central Research and Development Institution “Kurs” (CNII Kurs) has analyzed the situation in construction of fishing ships and the level of local content in this segment. According to data provided by CNII Kurs to IAA PortNews, the backlog of orders for construction of fishing ships in Russia numbers 47 units with an option for three more units. 

    Vyborg Shipyard has signed contracts for building 14 trawlers of the following project: ST118L-ATF (86 meters), ST-116XL-NP (80.4 meters), ST-116XL-FOR (80.4 meters). The ships are to be delivered in 2019 – 2022. Yantar Shipyard has signed  a contract for construction of 4 trawler-seiners of SK-3101R and HS113T projects. Pella Shipyard will build six trawlers of medium tonnage and one crab catcher, Admiralteiskie Verfi – six large refrigerator trawlers, Severnaya Verf – six processing/freezing fishing ships and four longline factory vessels , Okskaya Sudoverf – six medium refrigerator trawlers, Vympel  - one small refrigerator trawler.

    Meanwhile,  ‘keel quota’ campaign is underway in Russia. According to the Federal Fisheries Agency (Rosrybolovstvo), the campaign of 2017 numbered 33 applications for construction of fishing ships with total investments into the industry estimated at RUB 110 billion. 6 applications are for construction of 100-meter long and larger fishing ships, 27 applications for medium and small ships, 23 applications – for onshore plants.

    The second phase of the campaign, ‘Investment Quotas 2018’ started on 1 March 2018 and will last till 30 June 2018. This phase is expected to result with signing contracts for some 50 fishing ships.

    Besides, there are quite good prospects of building relatively cheap crab catchers in Russia Read more in an interview with Vitaly Gvozdev, Director General of AO Nordic Engineering  >>>>

    Domestic components for Russian ships

    According to AO CNII Kurs, the level of local content in fishing ships being built in Russia is 40%. When it comes to materials (metal, cables, paints etc.) it is as high as 90% while the situation with equipment is different with local content of just 10%. A big job is to be done in this segment.

    To succeed in decreasing the dependence on foreign components considerably domestic und should fit in shipyards’ supply chain. For that purpose, Russia needs a unified center to collect and process information about technical characteristics, functional advantages, capabilities of domestic manufacturers, measures of state support and financial mechanisms for the development of new production facilities. 

    To meet this challenge it was decided to create a center for shipboard equipment imports phase-out at the premises of CNII Kurs. This Center should become the key provider of scientific and methodological support to the Department of Shipbuilding Industry and Marine Facilities at RF Ministry of Industry and Trade.

    As of today, the shipboard equipment center is in charge of 85% of 107 items in the import substitution plan. Successful implementation of this plan will have a multiplicative effect on all segments of shipbuilding industry and related segment. It will facilitate industrial growth and development of the non-energy sector of the productive economy.

    Apart from insufficient local content of shipboard equipment there are other problems in the segment of fishing ships construction. Representatives of the fishery industry see another challenge in providing investment quotas in exchange for placing newbuilding orders only with domestic shipyards.  German Zverev, President of the All-Russian Association of Fishing Industry, Businessmen and Exporters, such quotas are a sort of “risk premium” since Russian shipbuilders are not experienced in building large-tonnage fishing vessels. Besides, there are cases of multi-month delays in newbuilds delivery. It is also an issue to be addressed. Serial production and regular orders could help to reduce the time and the cost of construction as well as to accumulation of competence which is also the target of the Shipbuilding Industry and Marine Facilities Department and Rosrybolovstvo.

    Vitaly Chernov