A new Russian crab-fishing and -processing vessel will service the Japanese and U.S. markets with processed products.
On 18 March, the keel was laid for a crab-processing vessel being built for the Russian Crab Company’s new fleet at the Okskaya Shipyard in Navashino. The vessel, named “Captain Manzholin,” will be the first in a series of three processors the company is building and is set to enter service in 2023.
“The competence and experience of the shipbuilders and the designer inspire confidence that our new vessels will change the technical appearance of the crab fleet,” Russian Crab Company Group Director-General Alexander Sapozhnikov said in a statement.
The 57.7-meter-long and 12.6-meter-wide Captain Manzholin was designed by Damen Engineering company in Saint Petersburg.
“The capacity for the extraction, processing, and storage of frozen products will double in comparison with operating fleet vessels,” according to the company statement.
The new vessels are designed for “crab-catching and -processing into cooked and frozen products,” according to a company statement. A company spokesperson told SeafoodSource the new vessels will primarily supply the Japanese and U.S. markets and described the vessel as “a factory where the live crab are cleaned, processed, boiled, and packed in boxes of five to 10 kilos and sent for freezing.”
“Such products are in demand in the United States and Japan,” the spokesperson said.
The Russian Crab Company Group describes itself as the largest crab harvesting company in the Russian Far East and one of the leading crab-fishing companies in Russia, with 20 vessels in operation. Last year, the firm accounted for 22 percent of live Russian crab shipments to China – the largest share of any firm. The 3,100 tons of crab it shipped to China in 2020 was a doubling of the Russian Crab Company’s 2019 sales in China, and followed a surge in demand for king crab in the Chinese market.
However, with its messaging around supplying Japan and China, the company could be looking to hedge its dependence on China’s market, which has been locked up to Russian exporters as Chinese Customs cracks down on seafood imports it suspects of carrying COVID-19. Earlier this month, the company became a member of Russian-China Business Council (RCBC) in an effort to bolster its logistics capabilities in China.
Photo courtesy of Russian Crab Co.
