Archangelsk Trawler Fleet to take delivery of converted transport reefer

OAO Archangelsk Trawler Fleet plc (ATF for short) is completing conversion of its large freezer trawler Viktor Mironov into a transport vessel. She is supposed to substitute Vassily Kisselev which has aged and is due to be written off, according to IA Dvina-Inform.

The bulk of the repair work on the ship’s hull and inside the holds has been carried out at Krasnaya Kuznitsa shipyard. Now Viktor Mironov is staying at the maintenance depot of ATF. At the end of September she is to go to Norway for installation of modern reefer equipment.

According to deputy general director of ATF Viktor Loschevsky, in early 2007 Viktor Mironov is to go to sea as a transport vessel already. She will supply the fishing ships with fuel, cans and packaging, foodstuffs, fishing gear and will deliver fish products to the home port. In its new role the vessel build in 1984 can work at least 10 years.

As for technical specifications Viktor Mironov surpasses Vassily Kisselev and therefore she is expected to meet her targets in a better way. More specifically, freezer holds of Mironov are designed to store 2000 metric tons of fish (one half more than Kisselev’s). Besides, the reefer BMRT runs on cheap fleet’s fuel, while the existing ship has been running on expensive diesel fuel.

Conversion of the BMRT large trawler into a transport vessel will cost the company from 1.5 to 2 million USD. Viktor Loschevsky says that some of the money will be covered by the company’s budget while the rest will be collected via bank loans.