VESSEL REVIEW | Regina C – Arctic factory freezer trawler for Greenland

Spain’s Metalships and Docks has delivered an Arctic factory freezer trawler for Niisa Trawl, located in Nuuk, Greenland. The new vessel is a Skipsteknisk design tailored for operation in heavy ice along the coast of Greenland.

The new trawler is named Regina C and has a length of 80 metres and a beam of 17 metres. It was built according to DNV GL class with the highest Baltic ice-class rating.

High standard, comfortable and modern accommodation facilities have been provided for 32 persons in 10 single cabins plus 11 double cabins. Regina C offers the highest possible safety standards for the crew during all kinds of operations and weather conditions.

The vessel was outfitted primarily for the northern coldwater shrimp fishery, but options for other fisheries have been incorporated into its design, including the ability to easily upgrade to triple trawl capacity in the future. Regina C’s design focused on reducing any polluting discharges to water or air and the recovery and recycling of excess energy wherever possible. 

The owner was looking for a replacement for its existing ocean going Arctic shrimp trawler, incorporating the latest developments for such vessels. This newbuild is the third trawler for Niisa Trawl to bear the name Regina C, all of which have been designed by Skipsteknisk.

Endurance, efficient catching, a high value product portfolio as well as efficient and palletised logistics were key issues in the development of this design.

The owner was also looking for the latest and most modern standards for health, safety and environmental protection related to operation in Arctic areas. High ice going capacity and winterisation measures have therefore also been key focus areas.

Regina C is currently catching Greenland shrimp, primarily off the west coast of the country. The catch is being processed into “cooked”, “industry” and Japan qualities and then frozen and packed, mainly palletised, and finally offloaded ashore.

According to Skipsteknisk, the fine tuning and integration of the extensive array of primary equipment systems made for a technological and logistical puzzle which required full attention during all stages of construction.

There is one main diesel engine delivering power to a variable pitch propeller in a nozzle through a reduction gear. A shaft alternator that supplies the main electric power is driven through a PTO on the reduction gear. The propulsion system operates on variable revolutions.

Main electric power is supplied by the shaft alternator on a variable frequency platform, ranging from 50 to 60 Hz. This will allow the propeller to operate more economically during variable loads. There are also two auxiliary generating sets operating on fixed frequency.

The surplus energy from the electric main winches is regenerated during shooting and towing and primarily consumed from the main switchboard.

There is a comprehensive deck machinery package from Seaonics, incorporating the latest generation of electric winches, including three trawl winches; eight sweepline winches for four trawl lanes; three Gilson winches; two cod end winches; two outhaul winches; auxiliary winches; and a combined mooring/windlass system.

In addition there are three hydraulic deck handling cranes and one set of ice trawl gallows.

The vessel is outfitted with a fully integrated onboard grading, processing and freezing system. The processing and freezing plant incorporates four cookers, four freezing tunnels and two automatic horizontal plate freezers, for a total capacity of 100 tonnes per day, based on an ammonia system. The freezing machinery has three compressors.

Processing is arranged for grading, cooking and packing of different size of shrimp, as well as separate lines for whitefish including heading, gutting and freezing.

After freezing and packing, the product is distributed into the load hotel where it is sorted, palletised and transferred to the refrigerated cargo hold. Regina C is arranged with two cargo holds with individual cooling elements for the upper and lower holds.

Both deck are made of steel and feature a special anti-skid paint system for safe forklift operation. The maximum pallet height is 2.1 metres on each deck level. Pallets are individually wrapped before taken into the cargo holds.

 {tabulizer:include style[rs_oy1yy6y0.css] id[tab_FA9QyuL5rV]}

Regina C
SPECIFICATIONS
Type of vessel: Freezer trawler
Class: DNV-GL
Classification: +1A1-Ice 1A* TMON, E0 “Stern Trawler”
Owner: Niisa Trawl, Greenland
Designer: Skipsteknisk, Norway
Builder: Metalships and Docks, Spain
Length over all: 79.05 metres
Length bpp: 70.80 metres
Breadth moulded: 17.00 metres
Depth main deck: 7.55 metres
Depth trawl deck: 10.55 metres
Main engine: 6,960 kW at 750 rpm
Gearbox: PTO/PTI of 3200 kW
Propulsion: CPP propeller, 4,300 mm dia.
Auxiliary engines:

1,290 kW at 1 800 rpm;

585 kW at 1 800 rpm

Emergency genset: 186 kW @ 1,800 rpm
Steamboiler:

Exhaust capacity 1, 800 kg steam/h;

Oil-fired capacity 2,000 kg steam/h

Shaft alternator: 3,300 kW (floating frequency) – alternative el.motor i PTH mode of 1,700 kW
Bow thruster: 800 kW
Rudder: Flap, 15 m2
Steering gear: Electric hydraulic
Cruising speed: 15 knots
Electronics:

2 x ARPA radars, 10 and 3 cm;

Gyro;

Auto pilot;

2 x GPS, standard;

GPS, differential;

2 x echo sounders;

2 x videoplotters/trackplotters;

Catch control system;

Speed log;

2 x satellite communication systems;

3 x VHF

Deck equipment:

Anchor windlass;

3 x trawl winches, each 40 t;

8 x sweep line winches, each 18 t;

2 x cod end winches, each 15 t;

3 x Gilson winches, each 20 t;

2 x outhaul winches, each 12 t;

Automatic trawl operation system;

8 x auxiliary winches

Cranes:

Deck crane, 8t/15m;

Deck crane, 5t/15m

Rescue boat: MOB boat
Fuel oil: 950 m3
Upper cargo hold: 1,371 m3
Lower cargo hold: 1,077 m3
Total cargo capacity: 2,448 m3
Anti-rolling tanks: 2 x passive
Antiheeling tanks: 2 x in port/starboard stern
Accommodation: Arranged for 38 persons in single and double cabins with separate bathrooms
Additional facilities: Hospital


Baird Maritime

The best maritime site on the web. The sea's our scene!