By Atuna.com
Korean shipbuilder Sungdong Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering will be delivering a new tuna purse seiner to Korea’s Hansung Enterprise by the end of next year. The contract – valued at USD 22.3 million – was signed on Monday and is expected to be completed by Dec. 25, 2013.
Earlier this month on Oct. 6, Sungdong also agreed to build a new vessel each for Sajo Industries and Sajo Oyang.
The three new 1900 M/T purse seiners will be the same as the one that was constructed for Sajo Industries in 2010 and delivered earlier in the year.
Sungdong expects more orders in the future as it is in talks with South American and European companies to build around 10 similar vessels.
This past June, the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) adopted a tuna conservation measure that prevents its members from building new, large-scale purse seine vessels. The initiative aims to reduce excess fishing capacity and ISSF companies are only allowed to purchase tuna from boats that are actively fishing at the end of 2012 or under construction by this year’s end, with a maximum completion deadline of June 30, 2015.
Hansung and Sajo are not ISSF members, but they mostly supply to the Korean tuna canning industry.