The Båtbygg yard in Norway has worked fast to deliver new deep-sea longliner Austral Odyssey to its Australian owners.
Conceived as a dedicated longliner to join the Austral Fisheries fleet, the hull of the 68.85-metre, 14.60-metre beam Austral Odyssey was delivered in April last year by its builder in Gdansk. Now the new longliner is in the South Atlantic after sailing from Måløy in mid-January, heading for its base in Mauritius.
With accommodation for a crew of up to 33 on board, Austral Odyssey is designed by Marin Teknikk to fish for Patagonian toothfish in the Southern Ocean, and it sports the Glacier 51 logo on its side, referring to Austral Fisheries’ toothfish brand. The company was a pioneer in pushing for MSC certification for the Southern Ocean fishery for Patagonian toothfish, developing markets for this product and in the process eliminating the majority of the illegal fishing for this species.
In 2020 the company took delivery of Cape Arkona, a combination vessel capable of longlining, trawling and potting. The success of this vessel was enough for Austral Fisheries to return to Båtbygg for its new vessel, and to bring in many of the same suppliers – including Brunvoll, which supplied the two-step gearbox with PTO and PTI, as well as an aft tunnel thruster and a combi azimuth thruster in the bow.
