Swedish fishing company Gifico has taken delivery of pelagic trawler Rockall, which now becomes the new Ceton.
Acquired from the Astrid fishing company, Rockall is practically new – built less than two years ago and delivered by Karstensens Skibsværft. It now becomes the new Ceton, and was formally named at a reception on Donsö yesterday as it joined the Gifico fleet.
According to Gifico’s Johannes Claeson, the new Ceton operates under the Danish flag, while the former Ceton is moved to the Swedish registry and becomes Ginneton. This vessel is the former Cattleya from Denmark, also a Karstensens build that was delivered back in 2006.
‘The old Ginneton was sold to Russia and that had been built in 1997. So it was quite an old boat and we were looking at the possibilities of building a new vessel when the opportunity to buy Rockall came about,’ he said, explaining that the older Ceton (now Ginneton) is a better fit for the company’s Swedish quotas, so the decision was taken to switch flags, placing the new Ceton on the Danish registry.
‘We also didn’t want to sell the old Ceton, as it’s a good boat and has a good turn of speed at 13-14 knots. So the solution was to put it under the Swedish flag.’
Unlike its predecessor, the larger new Ceton is a dedicated pelagic trawler with four net drums, and will be fishing for mackerel and herring, as well as for sandeel, sprat and Norway pout.
‘We can use the same fishing gear as on the old vessel, but the difference is that the new one is rigged for twin-rig trawling. We haven’t tried this before, but we have the option to use this now for sandeel or pout,’ he said.
‘We land most of our industrial catches to FF, and about 90% of our landings go to their factory in Hanstholm,’ Johannes Claeson said.
