VESSEL REVIEW | Kapitan Vdovichenko – Large-capacity freezer trawler for Russian Fishery Company

Russia's Admiralty Shipyards recently handed over a new freezer trawler ordered by local operator Russian Fishery Company (RFC).

Kapitan Vdovichenko is named in honour of Anatoly Vladimirovich Vdovichenko, the founder of RFC. It is the first vessel to be built under Project ST192, a new series of six freezer trawlers that were designed by the country's Marine Engineering Bureau (MEB) in collaboration with Norwegian naval architects Skipsteknisk. The trawlers were designed to each be capable of an annual total catch of 60,000 tonnes, a productivity level more than twice that of the existing vessels of the Russian Far East fishing fleet.

Design work on the Project ST192 trawlers was done in compliance to the class rules of the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping.

The newbuild has an LOA of 108.2 metres, a moulded beam of 21 metres, a depth of 8.35 metres, a draught of eight metres, a deadweight of approximately 5,700 tonnes, and accommodations for 139 crewmembers and fish processing personnel. It can reach speeds of up to 15 knots and stay out at sea for 45 days. To help ensure the crew's well-being for extended periods far from shore, an onboard hospital is also available.

The fishing equipment is part of a comprehensive Seaonics package that includes an array of electric trawl, Gilson, and cod end winches, net drums, three capstans, two ice trawl gallows, and two knuckle boom cranes with eight-tonne and 15-tonne maximum lifting capacities, respectively. Seaonics also supplied the cylinders and valves that are used in the fish hatches, the trawl stern gate, and the guiding pins for the sweep lines. The deck equipment also has energy recovery systems to help reduce emissions.

The onboard factory equipment has rated daily processing capacities of 80 tonnes of fish fillet, 80 tonnes of minced surimi, and 250 tonnes of fishmeal and a daily freezing capacity of 400 tonnes. The freezer hold can store up to 5,500 cubic metres. A catch weighing system is also installed.

The processing equipment, some of which was supplied by Carsoe, was selected to help minimise excess, resulting in fish products of higher quality. RFC said that, to help further reduce emissions, some of the processing equipment utilises steam that is generated from exhaust gases and from a boiler that contains fish oil being used as fuel.

Kapitan Vdovichenko will be operated primarily off the Russian Far East in the Bering Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk, where it will fish for pelagic species such as herring and Alaska pollock.

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