Fishermen will fish without science – Newspaper Kommersant No. 210 (7411) of 11/14/2022

The construction of two research vessels, which the Nevsky Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Plant of the United Shipbuilding Corporation was supposed to hand over by the end of November, may be delayed until 2026. Analysts agree that meeting the deadlines is impossible for technical reasons – the selection of equipment that will replace equipment from unfriendly countries, and redesign will take time. At the same time, the cost of ships will almost triple, to 16 billion rubles. The fishermen fear that the failure to meet the deadlines and the rise in the cost of the project mean a high probability of the same scenario in the construction of fishing vessels under quotas. But the USC denies such a connection.

Rosrybolovstvo published on regulation.gov.ru a draft amendment to the government decree on granting subsidies to the All-Russian Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (VNIRO) for the construction of two medium-tonnage research vessels (NIS).

Project 17050 ships are being built at the Nevsky Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Plant (SSZ), which is part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC). The keel-laying ceremony took place in November 2021, the ships were named Professor Pyotr Moiseev and Professor Anatoly Elizarov. Nevsky Shipyard in 2020 became the only participant in the corresponding auction, the contract value amounted to 5.89 billion rubles. Under its terms, the vessels must be transferred to VNIRO by November 30, 2022.

But, according to the published draft amendments, the estimated cost of building ships almost triples, to 15.99 billion rubles. At the same time, construction will stretch until 2026 inclusive.

The USC assured that “during the construction of the R/V project 17050, the Nevsky Shipyard will focus on the deadlines agreed and approved by the customer.” The price parameters, the corporation explains, are determined on the basis of the results of a feasibility study carried out by an authorized organization. The corresponding procedure is enshrined in 2022 for all government orders in the federal law “On Industrial Policy in the Russian Federation,” the USC specified.

Representatives of USC clients fear that the delay in the construction of the R/V means a delay in the commissioning of fishing vessels. As part of the investment quota program, it is planned to build 105 fishing vessels, of which 10 (9.5%) have been commissioned, says German Zverev, president of the All-Russian Association of Fisheries. “At the same time, the shipyards were supposed to hand over 43 vessels by the end of the year,” he says. “Probably, a similar situation is developing with scientific vessels.”

Even before the imposition of sanctions, delays in the delivery of fishing vessels reached two years, Mr. Zverev notes, and USC management stated that the cost of new vessels would increase by more than a third. “Sanctions have complicated the situation,” he admits. This, combined with the cost of finding analogues of equipment, servicing loans leads to an increase in the cost of projects. If the construction time of the R/V more than doubles, and the cost – three times, then the time and cost of building fishing vessels – too.

Obviously, all 105 vessels within the first stage will not be handed over to customers until 2026, Mr. Zverev is sure.

“In this situation, one should not rush to launch the second stage of the investment quota program,” he says. “The only consequence of this decision will be a “long-term shipbuilding”.” However, the USC emphasizes that the execution of the order for the R/V will not affect the timing of the construction of the fishing fleet.

The head of Infoline-Analytics, Mikhail Burmistrov, notes that the commissioning of the NIS in 2022 and 2023 is objectively impossible. According to him, the customers planned to install a maximum of sophisticated equipment on these vessels, which, with rare exceptions, came from now unfriendly countries, which complicates the task of redesigning and searching for alternative equipment. In his opinion, 2026 is a very realistic deadline. As for fishing vessels, the execution of these orders is also delayed: it is possible to complete the construction of those vessels for which the equipment managed to arrive before the sanctions, and the rest must be redesigned. In his opinion, now it is important to provide maximum support to the fishermen.

Natalya Skorlygina