VESSEL REVIEW | Fuyuan Yu 9199 – Chinese krill harvester designed for year-round operations in Antarctica
A new krill harvesting vessel was recently handed over to Chinese deep-sea fishing company Fujian Zhengguan Fishery Development.
Fuyuan Yu 9199 (福远渔9199) was designed by the 701 Research Institute subsidiary of the China Shipbuilding Group and built by Fujian Hengsheng Shipbuilding Heavy Industry. It is one of the largest Chinese-built catch processing vessels with continuous vacuum pumping capability in addition to being one of the first Antarctic krill harvesting and processing vessels to be independently developed in China.
Built for harsh Antarctic conditions
The newbuild has an LOA of 138.8 metres (455.3 feet), a beam of 24 metres (79 feet), a depth of 12 metres (39 feet), a deadweight of 15,800, a gross tonnage of 19,000, and accommodation for 85 crewmembers and processing personnel.
Design work on the vessel was undertaken in compliance with China Classification Society requirements including those covering B1 ice areas (characterised by one-metre thick ice floes) and temperatures of –25 degrees Celsius even in bad weather, thus ensuring safe operation in Antarctic waters year-round.
Efficient processing and packaging facilities
The vessel is fitted with a fully automatic krill product production line, which will ensure continuous processing and automatic packaging and transportation of shelled krill meat and other products in addition to permitting a smaller crew complement to be embarked. The facilities also include systems for cooking and vacuum cryogenic drying.
Continuous processing systems were incorporated as krill needs to be processed within two hours of being brought out of the water. Otherwise, if the maximum allowable threshold is exceeded, the krill may not be used for any purpose other than as fish feed.
Gathering of live krill is done using suction pumps and filters so as to separate the krill from the seawater and keep the catch as fresh – and therefore as nutritious – as possible.
Pumps are used due to the krill’s small size, with each specimen measuring no more than six centimetres (2.3 inches) long and weighing only two grams, whereas traditional trawls would squeeze the krill against each other, resulting in loss of nutrients.
The vessel also features a recovery system that collects waste heat from the krill production line for use by the other onboard systems.
Lin Peige, captain of Fuyuan Yu 9199, said that the vessel will be able to harvest up to 100,000 tonnes of Antarctic kill each year.
