Murmansk, Russia-based Norebo is closing a deal to acquire shipbuilding holding company Pella amid problems Russian shipyards are having with building new fishing vessels.
Saint Petersburg, Russia-based Pella is a group of shipbuilding companies with two main production sites in the Leningrad Oblast region. The company is owned by Herbert Tsaturov, who holds 72 percent of Pella’s shares. The company builds a variety of ships, including fishing boats, icebreakers, and military vessels.
In recent years, the shipyard has struggled financially due to difficulties it has had with state contracts.
According to Norebo Deputy CEO Sergey Sennikov, Pella is currently finishing two medium-sized trawlers for Norebo.
The move to acquire 100 percent of Pella follows up Norebo’s acquisition of Pella-Stapel – a Pella subsidiary – in March 2022. On 26 October, Norebo announced it would use Pella-Stapel to build another four longliners with onboard processing capabilities. The vessels will each be 63 meters long and will be capable of processing 50 metric tons per day of fillet and other semi-finished products.
Norebo's first new vessel to be builty by Pella-Stapel was laid down on 28 October, 2022, and is due to be floated out in three years. The next ship, according to Pella, will be laid down in six months and be floated out in two and a half years.
Sennikov told Business Petersburg the four longliners were previously to be built at the Northern Shipyard – a plant that’s now building 10 trawlers for Norebo. However, the plant was too busy, and the company had to shift the order to another producer.
Under the investment-quota program being implemented in Russia, 105 new fishing vessels, including 45 crabbers, are to be built at Russian shipyards. But shipyards are lagging behind the program's time limits, an issue that is being reviewed by Russia's parliament. Norebo is an active investor in the investment-quota program and a proponent of a proposed second round of the program. In order to meet the program's requirements, the company needs to churn out 16 Russian-built ships on strict timelines. At the moment, the company is building 10 trawlers in the Northern Shipyard, two longliners at Pella, and four longliners at Pella-Stapel.
In an interview with Paluba media agency, Sennikov said he hopes the Northern Shipyard will deliver the first of 10 trawlers by 2023, and a second in early 2023.
Aside from additional ships, Norebo is also moving into the ship-repair and port management business after identifying a lack of capacity in Russia. The group is building two fishery terminals and two repair plants in the Northern and Far Eastern fishery basins, where it harvests its catch.
Norebo hasn’t revealed if or to what extent it will participate in a second round of the investment-quota program, but there’s a strong possibility the company plans to invest heavily in order to maintain its status as the country's largest fishing company.
Photo courtesy of Pella
