Akureyri shipyard Slippurinn has struck a deal to fit two of Samherji’s fresher trawlers with catch handing decks, with one full deck to be fitted this summer and the second early next year.
Slippurinn had already fitted the catch handling deck for fresher trawler Björg, the last of the series of fresher trawlers for Samherji that were built in Turkey a couple of years ago, and the experience with this installation prompted the company to go back to the same supplier for Kaldbakur and Björgúlfur to be fitted out with the same arrangement of equipment.
‘Björg’s processing deck has performed well over the last year and catch handling has been first-class. There are clear reasons why fish from Björg is the best raw material that goes through the Útgerðarfélag Akureyringa processing plant,’ said Hjörvar Kristjánsson, Samherji’s project manager in charge of new vessel construction.
‘Slippurinn’s service and after service have been exemplary and there have been few problems since the ship left for its first trip. So the obvious choice was to bring in Slippurinn for design, construction and installation work on Kaldbakur and Björgúlfur.’
The two trawlers will be fitted with chilling and bleeding systems from Slippruinn’s Norwegian co-operative partner Stranda, and the elevators will be supplied by Holmek. Slippurinn will be responsible for developing a system for fish to be put into tubs on the catch handling deck, which are then transferred to the fishroom using the Holmek elevators. This system will also be fitted to Björg.
‘We want to offer our customers the best available options, so the decision was taken with Samherji to buy systems from Stranda and Holmek. We know these two companies well and are already working with them on other projects,’ said Slippurinn’s chief designer Ágúst Guðnason, commenting that the requirement is for processing decks that are straightforward and efficient.
‘This approach returns secure catch handling and minimises the risk of needing large-scale maintenance, which is important both to us and to Samherji,’ he said.
