VESSEL REVIEW | Bjørg Pauline – LNG hybrid live carrier enters service with Norway’s Nordlaks

Norwegian offshore salmon farming company Nordlaks has taken delivery of a new live fish carrier from Tersan Shipyard in Turkey.

The DNV-classed LNG battery hybrid fish carrier, named Bjorg Pauline after the mother of Nordlaks founder Inge Berg, is the first in a series of two designed by NSK Ship Design for Nordlaks. NSK project manager Oyvind Nikolaisen said the vessel was designed with the aim of zero-reliance on diesel. Thus, the newbuild is purely gas/electric with no provisions for diesel fuel on board, not even for the generators that supply power to all critical systems.

Measuring 85.54 metres long and 19 metres wide, Bjorg Pauline boasts LNG-powered engines that Tersan has claimed will help ensure a 30 per cent reduction in CO2 and a 90 per cent reduction in NOx emissions compared to traditional diesel engines.

The LNG-powered engines were supplied by Rolls-Royce Bergen and include two C25 33L6AG units that each produce 1,400 kW and two C26 33L8AG units that each produce 1,840 kW and are connected to Kongsberg Maritime 650GHC gearboxes to drive Kongsberg propellers. The LNG storage and processing equipment is in the form of fuel tanks provided by MAN Cryo.

A quartet of Kongsberg TT1650 750kW tunnel thrusters operating in conjunction with a DP system ensure adequate station keeping when loading live fish and when unloading at the fish farm, eliminating the need for mooring cables and tugs to help keep the vessel in place when alongside the offshore facility. A heat recovery system has also been installed to further reduce emissions during loading/unloading operations.

The other half of the propulsion setup is the large Corvus Energy battery pack, which also features shore charging capability.

The newbuild has a total cargo hold capacity of 4,300 cubic metres as well as a Sea Farm Innovations mechanical fish treatment system to help rid fish of sea lice. The hold can house over 600 tonnes of live fish, thus allowing the operator to make fewer trips to and from its new floating salmon farm offshore Norway. The array of fish transport equipment also includes a Cflow fish handling system, a Norwater reverse osmosis freshwater treatment plant, a Hyde ballast water treatment system, Hydroniq coolers, and cranes from Triplex. Power for these and all other onboard systems, including the LED lights and the Furuno navigation and communications electronics, is supplied by four Rolls-Royce Bergen lean-burn, medium-speed generator sets.

The vessel also comes equipped with firefighting equipment from Survitec and a Palfinger rescue boat for use in man overboard situations.

Bjorg Pauline has since replaced an older, similarly named fish carrier, which has since been sold to another operator. Along with sister vessel Harald Martin, which is nearing completion at Tersan, the newer Bjorg Pauline will be used to transport live salmon and rainbow trout from Nordlaks’ land-based hatcheries to Havfarm 1, the owner’s massive, semi-submersible offshore pen that can hold up to 10,000 tonnes of fish.

For more news, features and vessel reviews as part of this month’s Fishing and Aquaculture Week, please click here.