Fishing vessel owners took delivery of seven ships in 2022-2023, built under a 'quota-per-keel' newbuilding subsidy mechanism - VARPE

This is below 7% of the total orders backlog

Russian fishing companies took delivery of seven newbuilding fishing vessels in 2022-2023. The vessels were built at Russian shipyards under the presidential programme "extra fishing quotas in exchange for investments in newbuilds" ('quota-per-keel' principle). The newbuilds have entered service in different areas. However, this is less than 7% of the total order portfolio (105 vessels, including 64 fishing and 41 crab cathers), VARPE said.
German Zverev, President of All-Russian Association of Fishery Enterprises, Entrepreneurs and Exporters (VARPE) announced the numbers at a briefing, IAA PortNews correspondent reported.

“Seven years have passed since the adoption of the law. I would not comment using the future tense, mentioning ships that have been commissioned into service or launched. The Ministry of Industry and Trade or an inter-agency task force of the Federation Council will give exact figures for such vessels. So far, seven ships have entered service and are making a profit. There are four vessels are busy in the pollock fishing in the Far East: one large-tonnage and three of medium-capacity. And three vessels operate in the Northern Basin, in the Barents Sea, including one longliner,” Zverev was quoted as saying.

Commenting on the delay of the newbuilding progress, the head of the VARPE said that he prefers to talk not about “failures”, but about shifts in deadlines, that the problem is recognized as an “incident” at the government level, and the progress of construction of each vessel is under the Ministry of Agriculture’s coordination center’s weekly control. As for the losses of fishermen due to disruptions in shipbuilding, he literally said "colleagues are trying not to go public with this figures."

Since 2016, the fishing industry has started the transition from the historical to the auction principle of fishing quota distribution. As part of the reform, market participants are required to build new vessels in the Russian Federation in order to receive part of the quotas for catching bioresources. At the first stage, 105 ships are being built. Due to sanctions and problems in the implementation of the lead serial ships at the first stage, the government of the Russian Federation extended for two years in 2022, from 5 to 7 years, the deadline for the implementation of investment projects for the construction of the fishing fleet.

At the end of December 2022, the parliament adopted the low on the second stage of investment quotas and crab auctions with investment obligations. Auctions for the second stage of investment quotas, as stated by the Federal Agency for Fishery, will be held in August-September 2023. As part of the second stage, it is planned to build about 30 ships, including refrigerated ones, as well as increase refrigeration capacities in five ports in the Far East and the Arctic.