30 ships to be built under of Phase II of investment quotas programme – Rosrybolovstvo
Local content is to be increased with the support of the Ministry of Industry and Trade
Phase II of investment quotas programme foresees the construction of 30 ships including refrigerated ships and the expansion of refrigerating facilities in five ports in the Far East, IAA PortNews correspondent cites Ilya Shestakov, head of Rosrybolovstvo (Russian Federal Fisheries Agency), as saying at the media briefing in Moscow.
According to the speaker, regulatory framework is being developed for the second phase. The Agency will hold auctions in 2023 and allocate part of the proceeds for the development of the fishery industry.
“As part of the second phase, we assume that about 30 ships will be built, of which 15 are large and mid-sized. Besides, 8 large fish processing plants will be built in the Far East, which will make it possible to additionally process about 300-400 thousand tonnes. This will ensure the modernization of capacities in the Far East basin by 80%. Mreover, we plan to increase refrigeration capacities in ports, it is planned to build five facilities: two large and one small in the Far East, one large and one small in the North,” he said, adding that a large facility means at least 25,000 tonnes of capacity and connection of at least 400 containers.
Ilya Shestakov also emphasized that the local content requirements are getting tougher with the support to be provided by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
As IAA PortNews reported earlier, Ilya Shestakov said the that 45 vessels would be built under Phase II. According to preliminary estimates, order portfolio under Phase II of investment quotas programme exceeded 70 fishing ships including up to 35 crab catchers.
After a period of almost 40 years when Russian shipyards built no fishing ships or crab catchers, the year of 2016 marked the beginning of orders inflow due to transition to the auction based principle of allocating quotas in the fishing industry. The reform foresees that the market players should have their ships built in the Russian Federation to obtain a quota for bioresources. Construction of 105 modern fishing ships is foreseen by Phase I of the programme on granting fishing quotas in return for investments.
In late December 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on Phase 2 of investment quotas and crab auctions with investment obligations. Phase II auctions will be held in August-September 2023, Ilya Shestakov said earlier.
