The 24 metre trawler was built in Nelson by the Aimex Service Group, which has for many years also been the Rapp Marine agent for New Zealand and Australia.
‘We are really proud of New Zealand’s first 24m trawler,’ said Aimex CEO Steve Sullivan. ‘Santy Maria was commissioned by iwi-owned fisheries company Moana New Zealand, which said the new boat was the start of a $30 million modernisation programme designed to set new environmental standards in trawling.’
‘The vessel was built for RMD Marine, led by a Tauranga-based fisherman Roger Rawlinson. She was named Santy Maria after his mother. Designed specifically to suit New Zelands conditions, this new vessel design is touted to be more fuel efficient, more powerful and more stable, and to to improve productivity – as well as minimising the environmental impact of trawling,’ he said.
The Aimex Service Group has eight specialist teams supported by large workshop facilities in Nelson and supplied the full package of Rapp Marine deck equipment with TWS-2320 trawl winches controlled by a Rapp Marine PTS Pentagon LT trawl computer.
Other equipment includes a ND-480 and NDD-480 net drums, a GW-200 gilson winch and a GW-480 cod end winch, as well as a small 500kg unloading winch.
