Available facilities are estimated at one forth of the capacity needed at the peak of the fishing season
Russia’s Far East basin suffers acute shortage of refrigerating facilities but there is a plan for their considerable expansion, according to the experts of the Eastern State Planning Center referring to the analysis of the fishery industry in the Far East Federal District.
“As of today, the capacity of cold storage facilities in ports totals 171.1 thousand tonnes while up to 800 thousand tonnes are needed at the peak of the fishing season, thus only 21% of the needed capacity is available,” analysts report.
The experts emphasize that the capacity of the port infrastructure for fish handling is primarily determined by the capacity of the port cold storage facilities.
“The port economy of the Far East Federal District is focused on processing raw materials (hydrocarbons, roundwood) and much less attention is paid to the fishing port infrastructure, including refrigerators,” they note.
Besides, location of the refrigerating facilities in the region is highly irregular with 87.4% of them located in the Primorsky Territory: six in the port of Vladivostok, two in Zarubino, two in Nakhodka and one in the dry port Artem, say the analysts adding that the increase of the refrigeration capacity by 110 thousand tonnes is planned..