The latest delivery form Macduff Shipyards is the second in a series of three new design trawlers for owners in the north-east of Scotland. Zenith BF-106 has been built for the Robertson family and will focus on prawns in the North Sea.
The 22.75 metre LOA, 7.60 metre breadth Zenith follows Celestial Dawn BF-109 and will be followed by Forever Faithful, currently under construction at the yard’s newly developed Buckie site. The three trawlers all have the same hull form and general fishing configuration, but each has its own internal arrangement, laid out the owners’ preferences.
Built for Mark Robertson, along and his sons Paul and Adam, Zenith replaces the family’s two existing vessels, Zephyr BF-601 (built at Macduff in 2005 as Uberous) and Zenith, the former Daystar, built in 2008.
The design has been achieved by the yard with Macduff Ship Design, and incorporates work done in the early stages of the lead vessel’s design commissioned at the Wolfson Unit to run a case study of two hull forms utilising CFD technology.
This new concept model features greater length, a gradual bustle forward of the propeller and a unique stem where the bulbous bow is not fully submerged but taperes gradually into the bow section’s upper region. The projected results have been verified against Celestial Dawn’s first year of operation. A further difference comapred to earlier designs is the increased beam of 7.60 metres, allowing less internal ballast to be required while creating more space for the accommodation and fish processing areas.
According to the yard, the increased hull efficiency enables the owner to reduce fuel consumption and emissions – which was also a key consideration in the propulsion package’s selection. Zenith has a Novga CPP stern gear arrangement with a 2300mm diameter controllable pitch propeller inside a nozzle, coupled to a large reduction gearbox complete with two PTOs for hydraulic power, driven by a 600hp Caterpillar C18 main engine.
As the main engine powers both propulsion and hydraulics, this ensures that the engine is kept with an efficient operating window with no significant periods of idling and energy loss.
Zenith’s C18 main engine is one of the first pair of IMO Tier III certified engines to be fitted by the yard. A SCR and urea/AdBlue system is fitted in the engine room, provided by Xeamos, enabling the engine to meet stringent new IMO emission standards. Certification of the engine and SCR system was arranged by Finning CAT who assembled the complete system on their test bed, with witnessing and certification provided by DNV/GL. The system was proven to work well during sea trials where the 35 dB reduction SCR silencer helped the reduce noise levels throughout the vessel.
The steel-hulled Zenith has a double chine hull form with a transom stern, topped by an aluminium wheelhouse and mast. The layout below decks places cabins for a crew of up to eight aft, the engine room, the 600-box capacity fishroom forward, with a large freshwater tank forward of the collision bulkhead. Above deck level there is an aft shelter, spacious crew areas and a side passage, and the fish processing area and winch room forward.
The fish processing deck incorporates a catch handling system built by the yard and Northeast Fabricators. A sorting conveyor belt lifts the product out of the hopper and six different prawn washers are within arm’s reach of the sorting belt. A flush hold unloading hatch in the fish processing area forward creates a larger floor space as the hatch is not used while at sea.
A separate compartment is formed within the fish processing area to house both the ice plant room as well as an access hatch and fixed permanent stair to the hold. The fish hold refrigeration system along with ice machine was supplied and fitted by Premier Refrigeration.
The yard delivered a package of deck machinery tailored to Zenith’s requirements, with a triple barrel winch featuring a Hagglunds compact CA210 motor, two split net drums complete with two Hagglunds compact CA100 motors per drum, two general purpose gantry winches and a cod end lifting winch. Thistle Marine supplied both the MFB8 landing crane and MBK7 power block crane, both of which are mounted with a slew ring base. A small hoisting winch helps move the catch in the hold when landing.
Primary hydraulic power is provided by two pumps driven from the gearbox PTOS. At the owners’ request a unique secondary hydraulic system was fitted which features 75kW and 45kW electric motor driven pump sets. These two pump sets allow the hydraulics to run very close to full power and speed, providing not only a net retrieve system but full redundancy.
Electrical power onboard is provided by two 98 kWe Mitsubishi generator sets. The electrical systems were designed and fitted by R.D. Downie who also fabricated the vessels switchboard and control panels for all the pumps and motor starters. In addition to this R.D. Downie also provided the fire, bilge and gas alarm systems onboard along with the navigation light panel and assisted with the installation of the navigation equipment.
