Newbuildings no 404 and 405 from Karstensen Shipyard Ltd in Skagen, Denmark was handed over to Scottish Owners Lunar Harvest on 2 July 2008. The new vessels replaces the owners previous vessels, with same names. Previous “Ocean Harvest” was sold internally in Scotland, where as the previous “Harvester” was lost in a collision in the North Sea 2 years ago.
The company Lunar Harvest is a joint venture between skippers (and brothers) John (“Harvester”) and Brian (“Ocean Harvest”) Stephen of Peterhead and Lunar Fishing Company.
The vessels will operate through Peterhead Fishermen Limited.
“Harvester” and “Ocean Harvest” are identical sister ships, and are of a remarkable different design to that of traditional Scottish pair seiners. The vessel has a fully enclosed shelter deck, with all gear handling sited on the upper deck. This leaves a large area for processing equipment for fish, this area is totally lined and insulated, and separated from any deck machinery. All fishing operations are carried out over the stern, with cod-end hatch centered between the 2 trawl tracks.
Winch systems on the vessels are controlled by a Scantrol auotrawl system, incorporating pair-link module, which allows one vessel to work as mater and the other as slave, fully synchronizing heading and pitch. In addition the trawl winches have Scantrol ispool controlled guiding-on gear, which enables vessels to work 3 different diameters of wire/rope on same winch, with automatic spooling.
Another noticeable feature on the 2 vessels is the very low noise level. During trials, with 90% load on engine, and speed of 10 knots, the noise levels in the mess room and cabins varied between 55 and 57 dB(A), which indeed are very low figures. Karstensen Shipyard has over the recent years gained a vast experience in noise insulation, and the results are being highly appreciated by Owners, skippers and crews of newbuildings from the yard.
