A technical team from Icelandic deck equipment company Naust Marine has installed an upgrade to the winch control system on board Faroese factory trawler Akraberg.
Built at Flekkefjord in Norway as Guðbjörg in 1994 for its original Icelandic owners, Akraberg has sailed under a variety of flags before coming to be operated by Framherji in the Faroe Islands – which was where the upgrade was carried out, followed by start-up and sea trials, before heading to the Barents Sea.
The Naust Marine installation has upgraded the 86 metre Akraberg to be able to tow twin-rig gear, improving its catch performance.
The upgrade includes all new electronic control systems for managing the winches, providing automatic load control for the trawl winches and allowing the skipper to shoot the gear to a pre-set warp length, after which the ATW maintains equal tension on the warps. This keeps the trawls in their optimal configuration during the tow to maximise catch rates while minimising operating costs.
