VESSEL REVIEW | Linette – Highly efficient North Sea twin-rig trawler for Danish owners

Alfred Fisker Hansen and Tommy Svart, two fishermen from the coastal village of Thyboron on Denmark’s Jutland peninsula, have taken delivery of a new twin-rig trawler from local builder Thyboron Skibs and Motor (3XJ).

Linette, which replaces an older similarly named vessel, has an LOA of 28.6 metres, a moulded beam of 9.2 metres, a draught of 4.4 metres, a gross tonnage of 388, and accommodations for eight crewmembers plus one trainee. The vessel’s hull was fabricated at Nauta-Hull in Gdynia, Poland, and later transported to Denmark for completion. As with the earlier 2002-built Linette, which has since been sold to an unnamed owner in Sweden, the newbuild is named after one of the three children of co-owner Alfred Fisker Hansen.

The new Linette was designed by local naval architects Vestværftet for operation in the portions of the North Sea just off the coasts of Denmark and Norway. It will be used to fish for plaice, sole, turbot, haddock, saithe, cod, and other species for eventual sale to customers in Denmark and elsewhere in Europe. Although originally intended to operate as a twin-rigger, the trawler was designed to be reconfigured as a flyshooter with optional fittings for rope reels should the need arise.

Among the improvements boasted by the new Linette over its predecessor are a more spacious working deck, a larger fish hold, and more efficient winches for optimised operations, though co-owner Tommy Svart said the handling and the manoeuvrability are nearly the same as on the older vessel.

Zeppelin Denmark provided the trawler’s Caterpillar 3512C main engine and the two C7.1 auxiliaries. The engines drive a Hundested arrangement that consists of a nozzle-housed 3,000mm propeller and gearbox. Hundested also provided the vessel’s bow thruster while AS Scan installed an MT2500 steering system and a rudder control system as well as alarms.

For fishing, 3XJ installed a complete package that includes winches, net drums, cranes, and a trawl computer. An additional crane from TMP Hydraulik is also fitted while Nordsotrawl supplied the trawl nets. Trawl shovels and buckets from Thyboron Trawldoor complete the vessel’s extensive selection of fishing equipment.

The vessel’s refrigeration equipment was supplied by Lemvig Maskin and Køleteknik. The catch handling gear is a Boatech setup consisting of conveyors for lifting, sorting, and cleaning, a cargo bin with seven compartments, weighing scales, a rotating rinser, and pipes for flushing water out of the working deck. Fish cleaning will also be done with the aid of dedicated equipment from KM Fish Machinery.

Majority of the vessel’s electronics were manufactured and installed by Vest-El while carpentry specialists Tomrer Pedersen worked on the accommodation areas and other interior spaces.

Linette was handed over to its new owners in late October 2021. Within less than a month, it commenced fishing trips in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea.