Fujian Zhengguan Fishery Development Co. has launched what it calls China’s largest and most modern krill fishing vessel.
The Fu Yuan Yu 9199 recently set sail for Antarctica with plans to commence fishing in April, and according to Fujian Zhegguan the new vessel is equipped with what it terms the country's only fully automatic krill product production line. The 132-meter-long vessel – which departed the port city of Fuzhou on 9 March – is expected to arrive at the Antarctic krill fishing area in April to start operations, according to the company.
The new ship can break through ice that is more than one meter thick, and can operate in temperatures as low as 25 degrees Celsius below zero, according to Zhengguan. The company said it has invested CNY 690 million (USD 96.6 million, EUR 96.6 million) in the new vessel, and that it has also spent CNY 916 (USD 128.2 million, EUR 128.2 million) on a krill processing industrial park in its home city of Fuzhou on China’s south-eastern coast.
Fujian Zhengquan is a member of Association of Responsible Krill Harvesting Companies (ARK) alongside Aker BioMarine, CNFC, Dongwon Industries Co, Jeong-IL Corp., Liaoning Pelagic Fisheries Co., PescaChile, and Rimfrost. Together the firms make up 85 percent of the krill fishing industry in the Antarctic.
Described by Zhengguan as the first krill vessel to be built with Chinese technology, the Fu Yuan Yu 9199 will join a much older trawler, the 102-meter Fu Yuan Yu 9818 built in 1981, which is the only vessel listed for the company on the ARK website.
The successful launch of the vessel comes after a big surge in steel prices in 2022 prompted some in the krill industry to question if it would ever be completed.
“If the boat sees the light, it will not be at sea for at least the coming five years,” Dmitri Sclabos, director of Chile based krill consultancy Tharos, told SeafoodSource at the time.
