Putin calls for protection of Russian ship building
-Russian ships should be built in Russia, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin highlighted in yesterday’s meeting devoted to Russian shipbuilding. However, in that same meeting leader of the Federal Fishery Agency Andrey Krainy admitted that Russian yards are inefficient and not competitive.
-It is unacceptable that ships are built abroad if Russian yards can do the same job, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in yesterday’s meeting on the development of Russian shipbuilding, a government press release reads. –Our yards must be given priority, Putin added. He indirectly criticized oil company Lukoil for building its new fleet of ice-protected tankers in South Korea and not in Russia.
However, in the meeting Putin was told clearly about the problems in Russian ship building. Head of the Russian Fishery Agency Andrey Krainy said that Russian shipyards are not competitive not on deadlines, nor on price. He called for a “global modernization” of the industry, both from a technical view as well as with regard to attitudes. That will be necessary, he argued, for a revival of the industry.
Describing the situation in the Russian far eastern fleet of fishery vessels, Krainy said a total of 562 new vessels need to be built by year 2020 in order to keep pace with modernization plans.
He also said fishing in the Barents Sea illustrates lack of efficiency in the Russian trawler fleet. There, he said, Russian trawlers are 25 percent more expensive to use than the Norwegian vessels.
