With three newbuilds joining the Faroese fleet of freezer trawlers this year, the first — Framherji’s Akraberg — arrived in its home port of Fuglafjørður in early July. Since then the Akraberg has not merely left for its first fishing trip in the Barents Sea but is reportedly already on her way back to Fuglafjørður loaded with 850 tonnes of headed and gutted frozen cod.
With Akraberg delivered by Norwegian shipbuilder Vard, “Framherji opted to follow the lead set by Norwegian fishing company Havfisk and Russian operator Luntos in going for Vard’s offering, which incorporated leading integrated technologies,” Hook & Net wrote.
The new vessel is a Vard 8 03 design, based on the Vard 8 02 which has already performed successfully for Norwegian fishing operators.
The Akraberg is soon to be followed by two other new freezer trawlers for the Faroese — the Gadus for Klaksvík’s JFK and the Emerald for Tórshavn-based Havborg.
Whereas Framherji chose Vard for its new trawler, JFK and Havborg both opted for Skipsteknisk designs.
“One of the most advanced factory vessels afloat, the new 84-meter, 16.70m breadth Akraberg incorporates a wealth of technology with its advanced catch handling systems for both whitefish and shrimp,” Hook & Net further noted. “This includes live fish tanks to keep fish in peak condition before processing in the 100 tonne/day capacity factory deck, which was outfitted by Ålesund company Steel-X, incorporating a bank of twelve Teknotherm vertical freezers.”
The Akraberg has a 1,930 cubic meter refrigerated hold, an 830 cu.m cargo space that can be used for either frozen or chilled catches, and 550 cu.m ensilage tanks for landing biomass for further processing onshore.
