The new trawler built for Icelandic fishing company Ísfélag is now on its way home to Iceland from the Celiktrans Shipyard in Turkey.
New triple-rig trawler Sigurbjörg was originally ordered by Siglufjörður company Rammi, which merged during the new vessel’s construction with one of Iceland’s largest operators, the Westman Islands-based Ísfélag. Despite the ownership changes, there were no alterations made to the 48.10-metre, 14-metre breadth trawler, other than a change of colour scheme and the addition of the Ísfélag emblem.
Sigurbjörg is designed as a demersal fresher trawler with four trawl winches, offering options for working a variety of multi-rig gear, up to towing three trawls in a triple-rig configuration.
Designed by Nautic, the inverted Enduro Bow is a distinctive aspect of the new trawler’s configuration, following the example set with previous designs that have shown the effectiveness of this arrangement.
‘Vessel movement is much more gentle, as green sea breaks over the bow instead of generating the shocks that go with a conventional bow hitting a wave in heavy weather. The crew love it,’ said Nautic’s Kári Logason, who has been at the centre of Sigurbjörg’s design and build from the outset, confirming that from his own experience of trips with these vessels, there’s nothing to stop you sleeping peacefully in rough weather.
Nautic previously designed three Enduro Bow trawlers for Brim (formerly HB Grandi), while partner company Skipatækni designed four larger vessels for Samherji and Fisk Seafood that have the same design feature and which have been operating successfully for some years.
‘‘The owners and crews of these trawlers are delighted with the performance, and they’re adamant that this is the only way fishing vessels should be built. The hull shape with the Enduro Bow provides more space and buoyancy in the forward section of the ship,’ Kári Logason said.
Along with the 14-metre beam, this design arrangement provides all the support needed for the weight of the four trawl winches. The design enables these trawlers to push through waves instead of fighting them means that the ship provides a uniquely stable working platform.
The package of deck machinery and electric drives has been supplied by Ibercisa, with four 279kW, 35-tonne winches managed by a Scantrol iSym 7 autotrawl system. The electric sstem uses Active Front End (AFE) technology from Siemens, who also supplied the drives and electric motors, allowing energy regeneration with very low harmonic distortion.
Ibercisa also supplied the bank of six 55kW sweepline winches, three 75kW gilsons, a pair of 55kW codend winches and two 15kW outhaul winches, as well as two combination anchor windlasses and a mooring winch.
A key aspect of Sigurbjörg’s design was to provide a central space on board, free of pillars and supports, for the catch handling system. Some ingenious engineering of the hull and bulkhead structures has made this possible, with a 285 square metre clear space for the catch processing deck.
Catches are passed from the 74 cubic metre reception bins to the sophisticated catch handling area, and an automated elevator is used to transport processed and sorted catches to the 630m3 chilled fishroom. This has capacity for 590 x 440-litre tubs, equivalent to a catch of approximately 185 tonnes, reckoning on 300-320kg per tub.
Accommodation on board is for a crew of up to 16 in four single and six twin cabins.
