The new Pia Glanz has some very distinctive Jutland lines, and represents the latest thinking in Danish fishing.
Earlier this year John Christensen’s previous Pia Glanz was sold to Dutch fisherman Klaas Kramer, replacing the old Eben Haezer GY-57, and becoming Sola Gratia Z-300 in an arrangement orchestrated by Louwe Post – prior to the new Pia Glanz L-654 being delivered.
The new twin-rigger/flyshooter is unmistakably a Vestværft design, built on a hull constructed by the Nauta shipyard in Poland and brought to Hvide Sande for completion.
Skipper John Christensen is a veteran of Denmark’s west coast fishing industry and has seen plenty of changes.
‘The development is clear,’ he said.
‘I started 39 years ago with gillnets and a few hundred boxes in the hold, and today we have a flyshooter with space for 2400 boxes. This is a necessary development if we are to operate profitably and continue to attract skilled crews. There are ten of us working around Pia Glanz, with six on board at a time. So things have changed a lot since the late 1980s.’
There are further challenges ahead of John Christensen and his co-owners Brian Kjærgaard Jensen and Jannich Christensen. The design of the new vessel anticipates more changes that are still taking place – and the greater versatility of this new vessel and greater carrying capacity are essential as trips become longer and there are longer distances to cover to reach fishing grounds.
Following the christening ceremony and delivery of Pia Glanz, the first trip took them more than 200 nautical miles to the north.
‘Fishing on the Norwegian west coast is going to be concentrating especially on hake to start with. We have good quotas, which we like to fish ourselves here,’ said John Christensen, who has no plans to step ashore for the moment, although the long-term intention is for a generational change to take place as Brian and Jannich gradually take over.
Pia Glanz has a 33.25 metre overall length with a 9.40 metre beam and a depth to the shelterdeck of 6.78 metres. The forward wheelhouse provides space for a roomy working deck aft, as well as providing plenty of space for the catch handling deck.
The deck of Pia Glanz is laid out with a package of hydraulic deck equipment supplied by Thyborøn Skibs & Motor for both trawling and seine netting, with a pair of seine reels with capacity for 4000 metres of 54mm rope, and with a 21-tonne pull.
The three trawl winches also have a 21-tonne pulling power and the warp runs lead to three towing blocks mounted to be movable as required.
With both seine net and trawl gear on board, there are four double net drums and two single net drums on the fishing deck, which has both a stern gantry and an A-frame gantry, with an elevated walkway between the net drums for access to the fishing gear.
Thyborøn Skibs & Motor also supplied the gilsons and additional winches and anchor windlass. The discharging crane on the starboard side is a TMP 1300.
Fishing gear has been sourced locally, with a pair of 7.5mm2 Thyborøn Trawldoor Type 23VF Bluestream doors and a 2500kg roller clump, and Nordsø Trawl supplied the three 497 mesh groundfish trawls.
Hanstholm company BoaTech fitted out Pia Glanz’s catch handling deck, with sorting and gutting facilities with a rotary washer, and with adjustable height platforms at each workstation. Lemvig Maskin og Køleteknik supplied the fishroom chilling and the double 4.50 tonne capacity flake icemakers.
Pia Glanz’s main engine is a 680kW Mitsubishi S6U supplied by Westdiesel, driving a Hundested CPG 280 gearbox with a 8.99:1 reduction to turn a 3380mm propeller inside a 3400mm nozzle. There are two PTOs on the reduction gearbox and a pair of 150kVa John Deere auxiliary engines. Thyborøn Skibs & Motor supplied the 160hp SFT4 bow and stern thrusters.
Steering gear is a MT2500 unit fro Scan Steering with a double pump unit and a complete rudder control system. Pia Glanz has capacity for 79,000 litres of fuel and 55,000 litres of fresh water. Accommodation is for a crew of up to ten.
