Although French fishing company La Houle had firmly intended to take delivery of a new trawler around the end of next year, it has been forced to change its plans.
New 24.95 metre trawler Danny Finn was delivered to La Houle last year by Vestværft in Denmark and the expectation was that a sister vessel would follow.
La Houle’s managing director Jacques Pichon has been quoted as saying that due to the situation in Ukraine, the yard was forced to withdraw from the build plans.
Ukraine is a major producer of steel, and as a result of the way, prices have spiralled to unacceptable levels.
As a result, La Houle searched the second-hand market for a relatively recent vessel of under 25 metres, and has acquired the 24-metre Astrid, built in 2020, from Norwegian company BK Fisk.
This trawler will spend time at Vestværft for outfitting the winches and refrigeration systems, before heading to Saint-Guénolé to replace Murex, one of the company’s older trawlers.
It is expected to operate on the same grounds as Danny Finn, fishing for langoustine west of Ireland.
