Fishing Vessel News Roundup | February 15 – Norwegian fish farm dive boat, UK scalloper and more

Deliveries include a gillnetter and a fish farm workboat to operators in Norway and a factory trawler to a German seafood company. Sea trials have meanwhile been completed on a scallop boat for use in UK waters.

Gillnetter delivered to Austevoll owner

Icelandic boatbuilder Trefjar has delivered a new gillnet fishing vessel to skipper Ole Tøkje in the Austevoll municipality of Norway.

Varde measures 10.99 by 3.8 metres and is powered by an FPT C90 main engine. The fish hold can house 15 tubs of 380 litres each.

The accommodation spaces include three berths, a dinette, a galley, and a toilet with shower.

The electronics package includes equipment from Olex and Simrad.

Norway’s AQS adds new dive boat to fleet

Norwegian aquaculture services company AQS recently expanded its fleet of workboats with the addition of a newbuild catamaran dive boat.

AQS Siv has net washing systems, ROV deployment facilities, and five cabins to allow the crew to stay on board the vessel during overnight deployments at work sites. A 368kWh battery pack will meanwhile permit zero-emission operations in fish pens in fragile waters whereas the main engines will be used for transits at higher speeds.

The catamaran design will enable the boat to maintain high speeds even in bad weather.

AQS Siv will be operated under a time charter with local salmon harvester Cermaq.

Factory trawler handed over to German owner

German fishing company Nordbank Hochseefischerei, a subsidiary of Netherlands-based fishing company Parlevliet en Van der Plas, has acquired a new 88-metre factory trawler.

The Skipsteknisk-designed Jan Maria is outfitted with fully integrated onboard grading, filleting, processing, and freezing systems for use with shrimp and whitefish. Accommodations are available for a 43-strong crew.

The vessel is also capable of triple trawling and outfitted with cargo holds with individual cooling elements. The decks are made from steel and will be painted in a specialised anti-skid coating to ensure safe forklift operations.

A transport system will be used to move palletised products from the processing deck to the cargo holds.

Sea trials completed for new UK scalloper

Macduff Shipyards in the UK has completed conducting sea trials of a new scallop fishing vessel ordered by local owner Whitelink Seafoods.

Designed by Macduff Ship Design, Eternal Promise measures 19.98 by 7.4 metres and has space for seven crewmembers. There are 11 scallop dredges on each side of the vessel while the deck equipment includes a Thistle Marine crane, Bopp gilsons, and winches, tipping doors, and outriggers from Macduff.

The propulsion system includes a Mitsubishi S6R2 main engine, a Masson Marine gearbox, and a 2,500mm propeller.

The vessel is scheduled for delivery before the end of February 2024.