Russian Fishery Company (RRPK) and United Shipbuilding Corporation’s Admiralty Shipyards have terminated contracts for two Project ST192 freezer trawlers, cutting the construction programme from 10 vessels to eight.
The cancelled contracts covered the ninth and tenth vessels, neither of which have yet entered construction. A USC representative told local newspaper Vedomosti that the decision had been agreed by both parties.
USC attributed the cancellations to “an unprecedented volume” of imported-equipment replacement and the absence of a mechanism to compensate Admiralty Shipyards for its losses.
Another source familiar with the programme said the construction contract had become loss-making for USC.
The eighth trawler, Aleksandr Buzakov, will complete the series. Its estimated cost has risen from RUB6 billion (US$70 million) to almost RUB14 billion (US$170 million), according to the source.
The vessel was laid down in February 2025 and was about 40 per cent complete when the cancellations were reported. Funding needed to finish construction is expected to come partly from USC loans and Russian Government subsidies.
Foreign equipment supply has affected the ST192 programme since early 2022. RRPK said European and US suppliers, among other foreign manufacturers, stopped providing equipment after the project encountered supply refusals.
Admiralty Shipyards and RRPK had already reported equipment substitution work when the first vessel, Kapitan Vdovichenko, entered service in 2022. The shipyard later completed Mekhanik Shcherbakov, the sixth trawler, despite the continuing supply constraints.
Admiralty Shipyards and RRPK signed the original series contract in October 2017. Contemporary reporting valued the initial agreement, then covering six vessels, at more than RUB37 billion (then US$640 million), with further ships planned under options.
A separate financial dispute emerged in July, when an RRPK subsidiary and Admiralty Shipyards sought an out-of-court settlement over a RUB3.59 billion (US$42 million) claim. The case included RUB2.1 billion (US$25 million) in alleged losses under a 2017 trawler contract and the equivalent of €16.4 million (US$18.7 million) in penalties.
The Project ST192 freezer trawlers are designed to catch pollock and herring with pelagic trawls. Their onboard plants process, freeze and store products including fillets, surimi mince, fish oil, roe and fishmeal.
The design, which was developed in partnership with Norwegian naval architecture firm Skipsteknisk, has a length of 108 metres, a beam of 21 metres, a maximum speed of 16 knots, and an endurance of 45 days. The cargo hold capacity is about 5,620 cubic metres, while accommodation is provided for up to 155 people.
The vessels were ordered under Russia’s investment quota programme, which links fishing rights to investment in new vessels constructed at Russian shipyards.