Strong Demand For New Vietnamese Build Tuna Purse Seiners ff

By Atuna.com

The French company, Piriou, needs extra manpower at its Vietnamese shipyard to help meet the growing demand for new tuna purse seiners, says Joris Neven, Piriou’s commercial and marketing director.

Established in 2006, SEAS is based in Hô Chi Minh City, Vietnam and has over 400 employees working at two specialized building sites – one for aluminum vessels and one for steel vessels. Currently, two -40 °C tuna seiners are being built at the Nha Be site for Sapmer, the industrial fishing company that is expanding its fleet in the Indian Ocean. The two new freezer vessels are sisters to the previous five – of the “Franche Terre” class - that were recently built and delivered to Sapmer.

Neven says SEAS is expecting more orders for tuna vessels before the end of this year, but he could not disclose the amount or which companies are involved. He says there is a real need to renew the aging fleet and that the modern vessels will feature upgrades “in all aspects.”

“If you replace a 30 or even a 40-year-old vessel then, of course, vessels are more efficient in all aspects. There is more comfort for the crew, vessels are better equipped, and vessels are cleaner and less fuel consuming. In all aspects, vessels are becoming greener, but also more efficient [in fishing].”

There is also a significant deadline approaching that could explain the strong demand for new tuna vessels. This past June, the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) introduced a measure to address excess fishing in tuna purse seine fisheries. The measure seeks to limit the number of vessels by calling on industry members to stop doing business with vessels that are built after 2012. Before Dec. 31 – nearly three months away – companies are allowed to start new construction projects, as long as they are completed by the end of June 2015. New vessels can also be built if they are replacing old ones.

Current profit levels within the tuna purse seine fishing industry are such, that based on today’s earnings in some fishing areas, a new state-of-the-art tuna purse seiner can be earned back within a five year period.