A new resident of the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation (AZRF), the company "Barentskul" from Murmansk, has begun organizing the production of liquid ice generating units for the fishing industry. According to an agreement with the Far East and Arctic Development Corporation (FEDC), 44.6 million rubles will be invested in the project.

The company plans to create high-tech Russian devices that, under sanctions, will help fishing and fish processing enterprises replace imported ones and will successfully compete in the international market.

"Liquid ice is irreplaceable for use on coastal fishing vessels and fish processing plants. At the same time, coastal processing is a priority area in the fishing industry today. The project we are working on will be extremely popular, our regular customers are really looking forward to it! Now fishermen mainly use imported units of Western manufacture. This creates certain problems with their maintenance, repair, replacement of spare parts. After all, during the fishing season, fishing and fish processing enterprises work virtually around the clock, production cannot wait, and if there are problems with such technological equipment, they have to "order" a specialist or components from abroad. We expect to create a high-tech device of the highest class, with modern software control, absolutely competitive by international market standards," said Artem Dzyadzin, Director of Barentskul LLC.

Liquid ice generators cool sea water to -2 and -3 degrees Celsius, it becomes like a gel and completely envelops the fish, cooling it very quickly. Fish can be stored in liquid ice for up to three weeks - it prevents the proliferation of pathogenic bacteria, the development of oxidative processes. This type of cooling does not damage or deform the product and allows it to be delivered to the place of processing or sale fresh and completely intact. The liquid ice itself is delivered from the place of production to the place of use through pipelines using pumps. This has a positive effect on the quality of the manufactured products, their cost, as well as on labor productivity due to resource savings during transportation and accelerated processing of fish.

According to the agreement with the KRDV, the volume of investments in the project will amount to 44.6 million rubles, and 7 people will be provided with jobs.

In the context of sanctions pressure on Russia, the relevance of the AZRF resident project increases many times over. The investor hopes that additional measures of state support will help to implement the plan on time.

"One of the key issues for the implementation of our project is the availability of credit funds. We hope that the additional measures currently being taken by the Government of the Russian Federation to support residents of the Arctic zone will take into account the economic situation in the country and will allow us to successfully implement the investment project," noted Artem Dzyadzin.

"The fishing industry is one of the specializations of the Murmansk region. Today we are focused on its comprehensive development and it is very important that domestic entrepreneurs are ready to create something new, develop, look for modern solutions, counting on state support. This is especially relevant now, when economic sanctions have been imposed on our country," noted Olga Kuznetsova, Deputy Governor of the Murmansk region.

Currently, the Government of the Russian Federation is introducing business support programs. Entrepreneurs have access to credit holidays and preferential loans, including for investment purposes for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Let us recall that investors implementing projects in the Far East and the Arctic have been granted a deferment on fulfilling their obligations until the end of 2022. Until December 31 of this year, the Far East and Arctic Development Corporation will not terminate agreements with residents of the advanced development territories (ADTs) and the free port of Vladivostok (FPV), the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation (AZRF) in the event of violation by investors of the deadlines for fulfilling and other obligations under the agreements. The adopted decision applies to all residents of preferential regimes. First of all, it is aimed at supporting active entrepreneurs who have already started implementing projects, but have encountered objective difficulties that arose for reasons beyond the control of the residents.

https://minvr.gov.ru