Russian shipyards will produce 43 vessels over the next six years, Russian Federal Agency for Fisheries Director Ilya Shestakov stated in a recent speech at the Upper Chamber of the Russian parliament.
Most of the vessel construction is a direct result of Russia’s introduction of an investment quota program, which offered fishing companies additional quota in exchange for building new vessels in domestic shipyards, or for building new processing plants within Russia.
Of the new ships, the majority are at least 65 meters in length, and several are expected to arrive in Russia soon, Shestakov said. He calculated total investment in shipbuilding within Russia as a result of the program at around RUB 166 billion (USD 2.58 billion, EUR 2.3 billion).
And there is more investment to come, Shestakov said. On 1 October 2019, the fifth application campaign within the investment quotas program began, targeted at encouraging the replacement of small-sized (up to 25 meters) and medium-sized (from 35 to 65 meters) vessels meant to fish in the Sea of Okhotsk and near the Kuril Islands.
The Russian government will continue to develop new incentive instruments to encourage national fishing firms to renew their fleets, Shestakov added. Another incentive measure being now discussed is a subsidy up to 30 percent of the cost a new-build for companies that did not qualify or participate in the previous rounds of investment quota programs.
Deputy Head of the Russian Fishery Agency Pyotr Savchuk said at Russia’s Fishery Congress in early October that his agency has shifted its efforts from averting a collapse of the fishing sector – which had been its primary concern just a few years ago – to launching a continuous investment cycle in order to keep fleet renovation a constant process.
Savchuck said he would like to see Russia move to the standard of many other developed countries, where the operational life of a fishing vessel is limited to around 30 years. Such a measure would spur fishing companies to regularly upgrade their fleets and allow shipyards to retain skills shipbuilding that have recently been regained since the launch of the investment program.
Photo courtesy of Russian Fishery Company
