VESSEL REVIEW | Selvåg Senior – Hybrid seiner/trawler handed over to Norway’s Sørheim Holding

Norwegian company Sorheim Holding recently took delivery of a new pelagic trawling and purse seining vessel to be operated by subsidiary Selvag Senior. The vessel, which is also named Selvag Senior, was designed by Norwegian naval architecture firms Skipsteknisk and SU Ship Design in compliance to DNV class requirements to replace a similarly named 1999-built vessel in the operator’s fleet.

The newbuild measures 79.5 by 16.2 metres and is powered by an LNG battery hybrid propulsion system. The LNG-fuelled main engine produces 4,800 kW at 750 rpm to deliver a speed of 15 knots while a Corvus Orca Energy 1MWh battery pack augments the main engine during voyages and supplies power to the onboard systems while in port. The battery pack also boasts shore charging capability. A Cummins QSK60 main auxiliary generator produces 1,724 ekW at 1,800 rpm and is fitted with IMO Tier III-compliant selective catalytic reduction (SCR) after-treatment systems.

Additional electricity will be produced by an AMI 560L6L BSFMS 2,500 kW shaft generator.

Live catch will be stored in 12 RSW tanks with a total capacity of 2,550 cubic metres. The cooling systems used for the tanks were developed in collaboration with the Foundation for Industrial and Technical Research (Stiftelsen for industriell og teknisk forskning; SINTEF).

To further protect the environment, the vessel is designed to minimise energy use. The LNG fuel is stored at minus 140 to minus 160 degrees Celsius in a 352-cubic-metre tank and so must be heated for use by the engines. A cold recovery system will utilise this surplus cold energy, maintaining the cold of the RSW tanks. Meanwhile, surplus heat from the exhaust will be utilised to produce clean electricity. Cummins said the complex of electrical systems is integrated in such a manner that the vessel will demonstrate an overall reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 42 per cent compared to a similar vessel with conventional technology.

The vessel is equipped for pelagic trawling and purse seining with pumping both over the side and the aft. All winches and fish pumps are electrically-driven and all return effects will go to the battery bank.

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