VESSEL REVIEW | Mekhanik Maslak – Pollock and herring trawler for Far East Russian waters

Russia's Admiralty Shipyards, a division of United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC), has delivered a new trawler to the Russian Fishery Company (RRPK) for operation in the country's Far East.

Mekhanik Maslak is the third in the Project ST192 series of all-steel trawlers ordered by RRPK. The first is the Turkish-built Vladimir Limanov delivered in 2021 and the second is Kapitan Vdovichenko, which was handed over in 2022. All three vessels utilise a design compliant to the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping's Ice3 rules and developed by Russia's Marine Engineering Bureau with assistance from Norwegian naval architecture firm Skipsteknisk.

The Project ST192 vessels will be used for pelagic trawling for Alaska pollock and herring in the Bering Sea, the Sea of Okhotsk, and adjacent Far East waters. USC said each vessel is also designed to yield an annual catch totalling more than 60,000 tonnes, a productivity level more than twice that of the existing vessels of the Far East fishing fleet.

Mekhanik Maslak has a length of 108.2 metres, a moulded beam of 21 metres, a draught of eight metres, a displacement of 13,500 tonnes, berthing spaces and an onboard hospital for 155 crewmembers, and a fish hold with capacity for 5,620 metres. The vessel can reach a speed of 16 knots and stay out at sea for 45 days.

The fishing equipment is part of a Seaonics package consisting of electric trawl, Gilson, and cod end winches, net drums, capstans, ice trawl gallows, and two active heave compensated, knuckle boom cranes. Energy recovery systems are also fitted to help reduce emissions generated by use of the deck equipment.

The onboard factory has a daily freezing capacity of 400 tonnes and is equipped for processing of fillet, minced surimi, and fishmeal. A catch weighing system is also installed. The processing equipment was selected to help minimise excess, resulting in fish products of higher quality. To help further reduce emissions, some of the equipment utilises steam generated from exhaust gases and from a boiler that contains fish oil being used as fuel.

Some of our readers have expressed disquiet at our publication of reviews and articles describing new vessels from Russia. We at Baird Maritime can understand and sympathise with those views. However, despite the behaviour of the country's leaders, we believe that the maritime world needs to learn of the latest developments in vessel design and construction there.

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