Following some years of research and development, Garware formally launched its X1s, a new compact trawl netting, showing it for the first time at the DanFish exhibition.
It has been more than ten years since Garware launched SNG (Sapphire New Generation) netting that is in widespread use around the world, but for a couple of years the company’s marketing and R&D team have been working closely with customers to get a sense of what kind of new netting the trawling sector requires.
Customers were practically unanimous that they wanted to retain the qualities of SNG, but wanted to see twine sizes reduced – and this has been achieved through two years of extensive development work. The result is the X1s range, offering a 10-15% diameter reduction compared to SNG, but without compromising on strength. The key attributes of SNG – compactness, low shrinkage, abrasion resistance and mesh stability –are retained in X1s.
The first trials took place on board fly shooters in Norway, with skippers reporting reduced drag and easy towing. Further trials in Morocco, Holland and Spain are underway, with good initial results.
“X1s netting is designed to optimise twine strength, knot strength and mesh strength, to avoid skewing during fishing. Made for the belly and wing sections of the trawl, we expect X1s will help our customers stay ahead,” said head of Garware’s R&D division Kishor Darda.
“As the diameter of the twine reduces, it’s important to work on all aspects of the net making process, and not just twine production.”
Global product manager (trawling division) Vivek Kumar commented that with oil prices on the rise once again -X1s offers an opportunity to trim fuel bills, and reducing twine diameter by 15% promises reduced fuel costs.
“We are hoping to upgrade all our existing customer to X1s over two or three years, and to add new customers,” he said.
