Built in 2024 and laid up without starting fishing, the latest addition to the NovaNam fleet in Namibia already has a chequered history behind it.
Pescanova subsidiary Novanam has now acquired the trawler from Mar de Arbo S.L. Built as Olupale, it has been renamed Novanam Three.
NovaNam Three was built at Astilleros Armón’s Gijon yard for Seascope, a joint venture between Namibian operator Seaflower Whitefish, a subsidiary of Fishcor, and Spanish company Copemar. As the relationship between the two companies soured, protracted legal litigation kept the newly built Olupale tied up.
The 59.82-metre, 12.65-metre breadth Novanam Three has a 900 cubic metre fishroom and a planned annual production capacity for 2500 tonnes of finished products. Accommodation is for a crew of up to 66. Now the most modern vessel operating on Namibian fishing grounds, it has been outfitted and upgraded since being acquired by NovaNam.
Novanam Three has arrived in Walvis Bay, from where it will be mainly catch and process hake on board.
The new vessel replaces Mar del Cabo, built in Vigo in 1966, which was taken out of service following a serious fire during maintenance work in Walvis Bay in 2025.
