Wärtsilä propulsion picked for newbuild fishing vessel

JULY 8, 2015 — Shetlands, U.K., headquartered Antares (Whalsay) Fishing Company Ltd has ordered a 75.4 m x 15.0 m combined purse seiner trawler at Norwegian shipbuilder Simek AS under a contract worth NOK 250-300 million.

The vessel is being built to Skipsteknisk ST-125 design and will have an RSW capacity of 2,400 cu.m divided into 12 cargo tanks. It will operate in fisheries around the Shetland Islands in the north of Scotland.

The integrated Wärtsilä propulsion solution will include 12-cylinder Wärtsilä 32 main engine, controllable pitch propeller and gearbox.

The Wärtsilä two-speed gearbox, PTO/PTI, and floating frequency solution will provide the vessel with high levels of operational efficiency and flexibility in different operating modes, which were important considerations in the award of this contract.

The Wärtsilä machinery will be delivered in spring 2016, and the vessel is scheduled to be handed over to the owners in December 2016.

“We needed to replace an existing vessel with a new more efficient design. It is very important that the ship is capable of reliable and efficient transit to and from the port and flexible trawling operations. We have experience with Wärtsilä machinery and are confident that it will fulfill all the needed operational requirements for the owners,” say Laurence Irvine (Skipper) and George Williamson (Chief Engineer).

“Wärtsilä has a strong position in the fishing vessel market, and we are pleased that we have once again been selected to provide the propulsion machinery needed to attain optimal efficiency for this modern vessel,” says Aaron Bresnahan, Vice President, Sales, Wärtsilä Ship Power.