A new crabber/autoliner delivered to Jens Kristian Friis-Salling is the third newbuild for Greenland to be delivered by Vestværft this year.
More than forty years ago, Qeqertarsuaq fisherman Jens Kristian Friis-Salling’s first newbuild Ujertinnguaq was delivered by what was then Johs. Kristensens Shipbuilding Aps in Hvide Sande, which subsequently became the Vestværft yard.
Ten years later he returned for another new boat, Unaaq, and three years after that for the wooden-hulled Quassaannguaq to be rebuilt to meet requirements for operating in Arctic waters.
Now he has taken delivery of the Bent S, with the 23 metre crabber/liner christened by Jens Kristian Friis-Salling’s daughter Leila.
He has been a pioneer in crab fishing in Greenland, a fishery that more than 30 vessels now pursue there. The new Bent S under skipper Arne Lyberth and his crew of three able to take part in this fishery, switching to longlining for cod and Greenland halibut when the crab quota runs out or they are out of season.
They expect a ten-day delivery trip, calling first at Nuuk in Greenland, and with a stopover in the Faroe Islands on the way for fuel
Bent S is powered by a 600hp, six-cylinder Volvo Penta D16 main engine and is equipped with a Mustad Autoline sustem with capacity for 16,000 hooks. The boat is also sailing with 600 crab traps on board, filling the 62 cubic metre stainless steel crab tank fed by four CA80 Azcue circulation pumps.
