It’s one of the famous names in the Shetland fleet, with a reputation that goes back a long way. The new Altaire LK-429 has been built for the Altaire Fishing Company and is the latest in a long line of fishing vessels to carry the name.
The new Altaire is a dedicated pelagic trawler, expected to operate on much the same lines as the vessel it replaces – which is now with new owners in the Faroe Islands. it will operate on herring, mackerel and blue whiting in a largely conventional pattern, with catches delivered fresh in RSW.
The Altaire Fishing Company is owned by Plymouth company Interfish, headed by Jan Colam, along with skipper Chris Duncan and chief engineer Ivan Reid, both from Shetland. According to Kent Damgaard at Karstensen, there has been a longstanding working relationship between the yard and the owners of Altaire, which has been a regular caller at the Skagen yard for repairs and maintenance. Karstensen also recently delivered Artemis, a joint project between Interfish and the Wiseman Fishing Company.
After having built in Norway in the past, this time Altaire’s owners opted to go to Karstensens Skibsværft in Denmark for their newbuild, which is also designed in-house at the yard.
Handed over at the end of June to its owners, Altaire has been built at the Karstensen Shipyard Poland in Gdynia and the partly outfitted hull arrived at the yard in Skagen in November last year. The spec and arrangements are the result of close co-operation between the owners and the yard’s design team with the focus on optimal working and living conditions for the crew, maximising catch value through the best possible handling and storage, and ensuring that fuel consumption and energy usage are as efficient as possible.
The 79.95 metre LOA, 17.50 metre moulded breadth Altaire’s 14 RSW tanks provide a 2935 cubic metre carrying capacity. Catches are pumped at the stern and routed to the selected tanks via the separator, and the tanks are chilled by a double Johnson Controls system, each of which has a 1506kW/1.295.000kCal/h cooling capacity to bring temperatures down rapidly. The RSW circulation system operates with remote operated RSW-valves through Johnson Controls control system.
C-Flow supplied the vacuum system with four 87kW compressor units and twim 4200-litre tanks. Altaire’s deck hardware is from Karmøy Winch, with a pair of 91-tonne trawl winches and a Karmøy autotrawl, and 110-tonne net drums. The hydraulic Karmøy package includes a 71-tonne topline winch and a 57-tonne tail-end winch, as well as a pair of netsounder winches mounted on the aft gallows, a variety of smaller winches and the hydraulic hose and fish hose reels for the pair of 20-inch fish pumps supplied by SeaQuest Systems, which also supplied the foredeck crane and the deck cranes aft, with a net crane and a fish pump crane mounted on the aft gallows.
The 360° visibility wheelhouse is outfitted with a Furuno-UK Video wall control system that utilises five 55-inch and 22 32-inch Hatteland monitors.
The fishfinders are a range of Simrad and Furuno equipment, with ST94 and FSV-25 low frequency sonars, MF-90 and FSV-85 medium frequency sonars and an SN90 bow scanner. The echo sounders are an ES80, plus FCS-38 and FSS3-BB and a Wassp 80kHz 3D sonar. The trawl-mounted electronics are a Simrad FS-70 trawl sonar and a Marport array of sensors. The current indicator is a Furuno CI68.
Plotters are a pair of MaxSea Time Zero sets, a 3D Olex and a Sodena unit, as well as a Furuno FMD-3200 ECDIS. The radars, GPS sets, GPS compasses and AIS are all Furuno equipment, while the AP-70 autopilot and the three RGC-80 gyro compasses are from Simrad. Cobham Sailor supplied the 900 V-sat communications and SatöTV systems, as well as the A3 GMDSS setup and VHFs.
Accommodation is outfitted to an exceptionally high standard by Maritime Montering, with six ensuite single cabins for crew and engineers at main deck level, along with the laundry, sauna and gym. At shelterdeck level there are six single crew cabins and a sick bay, as well as the steam room, changing room and a coffee bar. The superstructure at this level incorporates a large gear workshop in the starboard side.
Cabins for the skipper and mates are located in the upper boat deck, with four single cabins and a conference room. The main crew areas are at lower boat deck level, with the day room, mess area, galley, provision room and coffee bar.
To minimise noise levels, the accommodation has been placed as far as practically possible from the propeller, in addition to other measures to ensure low noise in the crew’s living areas.
