Quinlan Brothers Ltd., a Newfoundland fishing company, has been investing in leading edge technologies such as the Style International Grader and the Laitram Convection Cooker, in order to guarantee a consistent high quality product, which is necessary to win market share in the demanding European market.
Quinlan’s first contacted Sunwell Technologies Inc of Canada for help with ensuring the consistency and quality of its products, and in 2010 Quinlan’s installed Sunwell’s Deepchill™ Variable State Ice System onboard its newest fishing vessel, the OCS Mariner.
Sunwell worked closely with Quinlan’s to customise its Deepchill™ System to rapidly chill and preserve Quinlan’s catch allowing it land a consistent high quality product. The consistency and quality of the Deepchilled coldwater shrimp are reported to have exceeded Quinlan’s highest expectations.
The OCS Mariner’s Deepchill™ System consists of a Deepchill™ generator model IG-18VM and a mixing/storage tank, capable of producing 29 tons per day of Deepchill slurry at 43% Deepchill™ Crystal Fraction (DC43) - enough capacity to Deepchill 10,000 pounds of product every three hours. Shrimp are rapidly chilled with DC43 down to 0°C on the main processing deck. This means that much less Deepchill™ is required in each tub to store the shrimp at a constant 0°C as compared to flake ice. Therefore each tub can hold significantly more shrimp reducing the space required onboard.
The results of preserving shrimp in Deepchill™ are very impressive according to Brian Collier, project manager at Quinlan Brothers Ltd. “Upon vessel landing, the even the freshest shrimp is typically 24-36 hours old, but the colour of the shell of the Deepchilled shrimp is similar to the quality of the shrimp landed hours old on the West Coast of Newfoundland, area 4R, Eastern Gulf shrimp. Compared to a trip using flake ice for the same fishing period, the quality of Deepchilled shrimp is two days better in colour, freshness, firmness, and taste. The Deepchill™ System enables the OSC Mariner to fish for two to three days longer if catch rates are lower and shrimp are scarce. With high fuel prices and trips taking 48 hours, the Deepchill™ System makes our fishing trip more affordable”.
