The order for three new combination trawler/seine netters for owners in Boulogne has finally been announced following a long tendering process.
Fishing co-operative Scopale in Boulogne has announced that three new 19.20 metre vessels will be built for Boulogne owners over the next year with the first due to be delivered in early 2017 and the others following at two months apart.
Scopale is a venture involving Boulogne association CME, fishing companies Scapêche and Le Garrec, and finally the three owners, who include Olivier Leprêtre, chairman of the Nord Pas de Calais regional fisheries committee. The venture could be extended to as many as nine vessels.
According to Éric Gosselin of CME, it has been a long process with seven yards across Europe responding to the tender for multi-purpose vessels capable of trawling, seine netting and scalloping.
The final choice was between an 18.50 metre design from local yard Socarenam using hulls fabricated in Poland and the final choice of a 19.20 metre design to be built at Manche Industrie Marine (MIM) in Dieppe and completed at the Padmos yard in Holland.
‘The quotations were close, but there was a slight advantage for the MIM-Padmos offer with its larger and wider boats,’ Éric Gosselin said.
