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Lake Union Shipbuilding Firm Refits Russian Trawlers
By Stevan Morgain
Bob Prescott's project is destined for trawler's engine room. Linked photo: Alex Silagin and Doug Bower, trawlers awaiting repair. |
At the height of "Cold War"paranoia, the Russians constructed thousands of these tough fishing trawlers, and the boats are a reflection of their time. Heavy steel plates are welded around the ribs designed to withstand 50-caliber machine gun fire.
Conceived by naval architects, the boats have dual personalities because they were built to both fish and fight, feed and defend, all at the same time. The Soviet Union made all their fishing boats quickly convertible for military use.
"When we got this one it had machine gun and cannon mounts on the bow; and some of the most sophisticated radar and sonar gear in the world," said Doug Bowers, chief operating officer of the Seattle-based "It even had nuclear wash-down capability."
Bowers said his company found the two Russian trawlers rotting in a little harbor down in Mexico. "We're now converting the 160 foot Morning Star here," he says, pointing to the boat, "to crab fishing, and that one over there will be a tender." Bowers said both boats will head back to the Russian Sea of Okhotsk when completed next year.
In the wake of the "Perestroika era,"the Russian fishing industry is a symbolic commentary on the times. Today, the industry is huge, complex and extremely depressed. In 1989, after the collapse of the former Soviet Union, the state-owned fishing fleet and related organizations were sold off and began to transform themselves into "capitalist-style" joint-venture companies that haven't been nearly as successful as first imagined.
Russia's aging fleet means a sharp increase in the scale of ship repairs, but Russia's Far Eastern shipyards, equipment, and repair technology are obsolete.
The new economic order rising today in Russia is tough on fishermen. Crime, duplicity and convoluted government regulations make doing business risky. There are also serious shortages of materials, equipment and fuel.
These conditions have allowed Nomad to step in and create a sort of "peace dividend" for the Seattle economy.
"It takes ten times longer to perform the same repair work in Russia as it does in U.S. shipyards," Bowers said. "That's why the Russians are bring their boats to America for repairs. But that's the easy part. It's the getting paid part that's a little tricky,"said Bowers.
Bowers explained that Nomad's dealings with the Russians is a little like bartering.
Few Russians have any hard currency. Consequently, to make money from repairing, and converting Russian ships takes a gamblers nerve, an economists appreciation of world economics, and a brain that can function on two levels simultaneously. "The way we work with the Russians is probably unique," said Alex Silagan, CEO of Nomad's parent company, Marine Business International (MBI).
"The first way to deal is easy,"said Silagan, "the Russian fishermen just pay cash." Simple enough, until one realizes that few Russian fishing companies want to spend their hard currency in America.
MBI's other financing mechanism is a tad more ingenious and sophisticated. "We loan them the money up front,"said Silagin. But Silagin says before any Russian fisherman gets an MBI- backed loan, they're required to sign an exclusive three-year contract that gives MBI the rights to market their seafood products worldwide.
There are a select few who do pay cash however, "We just finished the Gefest," said Bowers. "We took the fishing trawler and transformed it into a crabber for $2.5 million."
The Nomad yard crew varies in relation to the number of ships lying dockside. In previous years their employee roster has bounced between 30-40 welders, fitters and material handlers.
"Last year was good and we were pretty busy. We cut up decks, ripped out and replaced old pipes, and installed generating, freezing and packaging equipment on about a dozen ships," said Bowers. "We also worked to restore what a decade of time, rust and shoddy maintenance has destroyed," he said.
Nomad also does its own fabrication. The company manufactures the self-
contained modules it mounts on the sterns of the ships it remodels to process and package the fish and crab.
MBI is also a management consultant firm that provides guidance and advice to the Russians who want to have their boats repaired Sligan said
"We walk them through the maze of paperwork requirements by the U.S. and Russian consulates in Vladivostok and Seattle,"said Silagin.
Bowers adds, "It takes literally months to get all the registrations and permits needed to get a Russian boat to the states to work on it."
"And the Russian are in such bad economic shape that you gotta' give these guys everything,"said Silagin.
Bowers said. "If you add up all the employees, sub-contractors and vendors, I think we probably dump about $100-million a year into the local economy."
If you factor in that, along with financing, and legal representation, MBI arranges for insurance, food, fuel, supplies, and spare parts for many of the boats still fishing in Russia today, then Silagin estimates that MBI and Nomad together generate close to $500 million a year in taxable income.
The Russian fleet has dropped from a high of around 10,000 boats between 1970 and 80s, down to 1,400.
The World Trade Organization estimates that 70 percent of the countries vessels, in all categories, are obsolete and should be remodeled or replaced. The Russians are also no longer allowed to fish in American waters, but roam the Pacific and Indian oceans.
An overwhelming share of Russia's fish (92 percent) come from within its 200 miles zone, along the coast of the Kamchatka peninsula. The rest of the nation's annual harvest comes from the Western Being Sea, the Kurils Islands and the Sea of Japan.
In many ways Russia's Far East fishing industry has fallen of hard times because of over-fishing and lax environmental standards.
"From what we've learned all the fish are all gone from Russian waters,"said Bowers. "And that's why there bring their boats to Seattle to be converted into crab fishers and processors."
The establishment of ongoing commercial relationships between companies like MBI and Nomad mark the strengthening of U.S. West Coast ties with their counterparts in the Far East but that still doesn't guarantee success.
"Our working relationship with Russia is much better than it once was but it's the economy that I worry about,"said Silagin. "Sometimes when I hear about the political climate in Russia I'm left wondering if I'll be paid ? and there's the gamble."
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| abunu | Sep 25, 2002 | abidjan | banker |
| all email contacts | |||
| Clifford K.Silagan | Aug 26, 2003 | London,United Kingdom | English and History Teacher |
| Hi!Alex am Clifford Silagan,I would like to know if we are relatives.I come from Cebu,Philippines.I am teaching in a secondary school in London.Please do reply if you can.I maybe going to America next year, your website is wonderful! | |||
| Hamek Ali | Feb 06, 2004 | Ghazaouet ,Tlemcen ,Algeria | Gerant |
| SARL younes et fils pÍche industrielle 43,Sidi amar Ghazaouet 13400 Ageria Ghazaouet : Saturday, January 29, 2004 Dear, I will be very grateful to you if you give me the opportunity to have more details about shipbuilding; prices and conditions of delivery. Iím a trawlerís captain and I have beneficed from the governmentís help to be ship owner and I am so much interested in your shipyard. I intend to bye a new ship and wish to know all about your manufacture as I hope to be your customer in the future. Here are some characteristics needed: Steel trawler of 25m,10 long motorised by 900 hp and above Thanking you in advance, meanwhile, I remain. Truly yours, The gerent: Hamek Ali | |||
| roel | Feb 20, 2004 | london | teacher |
| hi clifford silagan..how are you now..please keep in touch...miss you | |||
