VESSEL REVIEW | Suzanga – French fisherman opts for Turkish-built, long-range trawler

Seasoned French fisherman Raphael Chayla recently welcomed the newest addition to his fleet of boats that operate out of Granville in the Normandy region.

Built by Nova Shipyard of Turkey to a design developed by French naval architects Mer Et Design in compliance to Bureau Veritas class rules, the all-steel Suzanga is optimised for fishing trips of not more than 24 hours in duration, particularly in the English Channel off Normandy, where Mr Chayla’s fleet has been operating regularly for over 13 years.

Although Suzanga is intended primarily to carry out stern trawling, the newbuild is also capable of performing different fishing methods depending on the time of year or the targeted species. Other pieces of fishing equipment, such as dredges that are to be used for gathering scallops and other shellfish from the seabed, have therefore been installed to complement the vessel’s suite of three trawl winches and three net drums.

The newest addition to Mr Chayla’s fishing fleet has an LOA of 12.02 metres, a beam of 5.8 metres, a draught of 1.3 metres, a displacement of 60 tonnes at full load, and a total fish hold capacity of 10 cubic metres. One diesel engine with a rated output of 335 kW drives a fixed-pitch propeller via a Masson Marine W1950 gearbox to enable the vessel to reach a maximum speed of 10 knots as well as generate a bollard pull of five tonnes. Two 3,000-litre fuel tanks help guarantee extended range, hence allowing the vessel to sail for up to 1,000 nautical miles in between refuelings for as long as a cruising speed of 8.8 knots is maintained.

For close quarters manoeuvring, the trawler relies on a Side Power SH320 side thruster to augment the steering system supplied by Data Hidrolik.

The vessel also boasts a comprehensive array of navigation and communication electronics with radar, VHF radios, and GPS supplied by Furuno, an autopilot and compass from Simrad, a Humminbird Helix sonar, a Fusion Entertainment marine audio setup, a Marinelec Technologies alarm and monitoring system, a vessel monitoring system, a bridge navigation watch alarm system, and an infrared bullet camera. All these systems draw electrical power from a quartet of 210Ah service batteries provided by Varta.

The vessel’s crew of four are comfortably housed in accommodations that include a one-person cabin for the skipper and a pair of two-berth cabins for the remaining personnel. The floors in the interior spaces are made of IMO-compliant, wear- and slip-resistant material supplied by Gerflor while Jotun paint was used on the exterior surfaces. Should an emergency make evacuation of the trawler necessary, two liferafts capable of accommodating up to six people each are available on board as well.

Suzanga was handed over to Mr Chayla in January of this year following a delivery voyage from Turkey. The vessel has since been put to use by its new owner in the waters of the English Channel to fish for whelk, sand eel, sea bream, red mullet, mussels, and scallops among others.

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