A new generation of trawlers. How they contribute to improve production efficiency and preserve resources
An overview of the directions for the development of marine fisheries in Russia was prepared by experts of the SBERPRO team
A great renewal of the fishing fleet is taking place in Russia: dozens of modern vessels furnished with state-of-the-art equipment are replacing old, worn-out trawlers. The State program of investment quotas kick-started this process. In 2020, fishermen received the first few vessels built on the expectation of investment quotas, and about 60 more vessels building at various domestic shipyards. How will they change the image of the domestic fishing industry?
Time for a rapid progress
In the Soviet period, our country had the largest fishing fleet, which operated both in domestic waters and in the World Ocean. The total number of vessels exceeded 4,000 units by 1990.
However, fishing companies basically stopped renewing trawlers in post-perestroika period. By the 2010s, the obsolescence of the fishing fleet had reached a critical level. According to Rosstat, the degree of depreciation of capital assets in the fishing industry amounted to 66% in 2011; and according to the Russian Federal Fisheries Agency, the number of vessels decreased to 1,810 by that year, and to 1,434 by 2015. This meant that fishermen who wanted to stay in the fishery would have to place orders for new trawlers anyway. The question was which shipbuilding yards would receive these orders. At that time the fishermen favored foreign shipyards.
In this situation, in 2016, the government decided to launch an ambitious program of state support for the renewal of the fishing fleet with the involvement of domestic shipyards. It has been called the "investment quota program", popularly called "keel quotas", since fishing company was entitled to additional catch quotas for placing an order with a Russian shipyard.
Such encouragement had a breakthrough effect: according to the results of the first five-year implementation period of the program, fishermen and shipbuilders signed contracts for building of about six dozen different vessels.
Who builds new vessels
The main first orders were with the northwestern shipyards.
Baltic shipyard Yantar has already managed to build and deliver to the customer a series of three trawlers of the SK-3101R project (Leninets, Komandor and Udarnik). The vessels went to the disposal of Lenin collective fishery (fishing kolkhoz) to the Far East and have already carried out fishing activity. For the same enterprise, the shipyard is building a large freezing trawler with a length of 121 meters and a displacement of 13,000 tons – the largest of the fishing vessels ordered under the investment quota program. Delivery is scheduled for 2024
«Admiralty Shipyards are building 10 supertrawlers over a hundred meters long for the Russian Fishery Company (RFC) under the CT-192 project. The keel was laid for the sixth trawler of the series, dubbed Mekhanik Shcherbakov, in September this year.
Vyborg Shipyard is building four trawlers for the Arkhangelsk Trawler Fleet (part of the North West Fishing Consortium). Two of them have already been delivered to the customer.
Severnaya Verf is building 10 processing trawlers of project 170701 for Norebo Holding; and the tenth vessel was laid down in August. In addition, four longliners (three for FC Virma and one for OOO Globus) are building.
121 meters is the length of the largest fishing vessel being built in Russia.
The start of the investment quota program has not come without problems related to the extension of the construction period beyond the originally established time limit. Russian shipyards are working with projects of foreign design bureaus, which today are considered leaders in the fishing market. At Yantar, for example, three trawlers were built for Lenin collective fishery (fishing kolkhoz) under the project of the Norwegian company Skipskompetanse AS. This necessitated the need for rework to Russian standards, and the plan marker for the delivery of vessels on the schedule went to the right.
But over the past five years, the "teething troubles" were resolved; the degree of local content is increasing. And this makes it possible to carry out building more efficiently without compromising on quality of projects. As a result, fishermen receive the most modern vessels that will fundamentally strengthen the domestic fishing fleet.
Today, most of the design work at Nautic is carried out by Russian engineers. The main advanced solution of Nautic Rus projects is Enduro Bow, the new design of the bow, which gets the vessel into a special shape. And it's not just the design; this shape of the bow increases the seaworthiness of the vessel and creates additional space for the crew. A duct (tunnel) keel and a manhole-free deck of freezing hold are used in the designs of our projects. The main working room of the fishing vessel is the factory room, which has a pillarless design that gives the fish factory suppliers a tremendous advantage over other fishing vessel design projects.
The fitting out is worth the effort
The companies that joined the investment quota program were immediately aimed at fitting out their future trawlers with the latest equipment from leading international manufacturers. This will allow them to increase the efficiency of fishing and operating, as well as ensure the environmental compatibility of vessels that also meets the requirements of the time.
For example, 10 supertrawlers of the CT-192 project for Russian Fishery Company (RFC) are replacing the fleet, the average age of which varies between 40 and 50 years. The company's vessels, of course, have been modernized, but the new supertrawlers surpass in quality. They are much larger (length is 108 meters) and have a hull of ice class 1A that makes it possible to fish in high latitudes. Their productivity is 2.5 times higher and amounts to 60 thousand tons of fish per year. Due to the new trawlers, when producing ultra-processed products, RFC’s revenues will increase by 50% and its profit twice compared to the output of headed pollock.
The productivity of new supertrawlers is 2.5 times higher compared to operating vessels.
A multifunctional fish factory from the acknowledged leader in the market – the German company Baader – is installed on board vessel at the request of the customer. It provides for complete zero-waste processing of the total catch directly at sea. Waste is not dropped out into the sea; fishmeal and fish oil are sourced from the waste. The factory has built-in facilities for the producing of pollock surimi, which is in demand on the market and has a high value added. The output rate of surimi amounts to 80 tons per day.
The fishmeal facility is equipped with an evaporative system that increases the yield of high-protein fishmeal. The productivity of the fishmeal facility amounts to 250 tons of meal per day. The evaporation system itself is driven by steam, which comes amid the process of producing fishmeal that saves fuel.
In addition, a number of other solutions have been used for the trawler to provide the maximum energy efficiency.
The trawl complex includes electric warping winches that allow energy recovery and redirect it to the needs of the main production and for general ship consumption.
Modern engines provide low energy consumption. Due to fuel efficiency, the carbon footprint generated by the new fleet of RFC is the lowest among global walleye pollock harvesters. The specific fuel consumption on the new trawler is 186 grams/kW per hour and on Soviet-built fishing vessels of the BATM type is 204 grams/kW per hour, that saves 146 kg of fuel per just one hour operated with main (propelling) engine ratio of 8,124 kW. And desalination systems installed on vessels completely cover the production and household requirements of the vessel in fresh water.
In addition to increased production capacity, maximum safety and environmental compatibility, the features of the new fleet will be improved working conditions and leisure facilities for crews.
Where do we go next?
There are three main directions, in which the construction of fishing fleet will develop in the near future in Russia.
Firstly, not only trawler projects should be localized, but also their fitting out. And this means that Russia needs its own market of trawl gear; new freezing systems, as well as manufacturers of fish factories.
Secondly, there is a request for a steady rise in productivity of vessels that can be provided by various methods: high-speed operating of freezing equipment (there are already systems designed for 350 tons per day), an increase in the length of the trawler, which allows adding volume to cargo holds; efficient cranes that ensure high rates of unloading products directly at sea.
Thirdly, there is а general trend for trawlers to be automated. High-level automation means the future equipping of the boards with a computer vision system, automatic navigation and remote monitoring. While the development of such systems is at an experimental stage, but as they are improved, they will be widely sought after, including by the fishing business.
The introduction of autonomous navigation will be the next logical step in the process of fishing fleet automation. As a result, companies will be able to reduce the required number of people on board the vessel that is certainly important both in terms of operating costs and in terms of the problem of the growing shortage of skilled personnel.
Vessel automation and digitalization can also increase the efficiency of fishing. Computer systems, unlike humans, are capable of continuously processing huge amounts of data (from hydroacoustics and trawl parameters to satellite images and current prognoses of the location of biological resources) and performing actions of controlling all vessel systems as accurately as possible, without delay and following rules or optimal procedures.