Algerian fishing vessel builder hopes to catch global market – in pictures

Supplying the same high quality trawlers for a cheaper price than foreign imports brings hope for industry resurgence

Men inspect a locally-built boat at the port of Zemmouri, in Boumerdes, Algeria February 23, 2022. Picture taken February 23, 2022. REUTERS / Ramzi Boudina

Offering the same quality as imports but at cheaper prices, Mr Chaouche has carved himself a space within the Algerian market.

'We manufacture tuna ships, so we should stop importing them because there is a big difference in prices for the same quality, we don't steal and the standards are the same,’ Mr Chaouche said.

‘Four years ago, a man imported a ship that cost him 57 billion [Algerian dinar] from Spain, while the same ship here costs 30bn,’ he said.

Having established himself in Algeria, Mr Chaouche, who employs 85 people but hopes to hire more, now has his eyes on exporting. He says ‘we can sell them to Libyans or Mauritanians because they don’t make them’.

As an oil and gas producer, Algeria has suffered from years of shrinking energy revenue with prices and output sliding since 2014, and has made little progress diversifying its state-centred economy.

The government last year proposed a series of reforms and Mr Chaouche believes his business helps in diversifying the Algerian economy and could be a source of revenue once it starts exporting.

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