Handed over just a few weeks after the completion of Prion for the Petrel Fishing Company, which also starting fishing this season, newbuild Argos Berbés has an 85-metre overall length and a 14-metre beam. It has been designed with an inverted bow to provide optimal seakeeping qualities.
Argos Berbés doesn’t represent the first time owners Orion Fishing Company has gone to Nodosa. In 2018, it took delivery of the 75-metre Argos Cies to operate on the same Falklands fishing grounds.
Orion Fishing Company is a joint-venture between the Vigo-based Grupo Pereira and Argos Group in the Falkland Islands, and in her speech at the new trawler’s delivery ceremony, Argos Group’s Sheila Stewart highlighted the solid relationship with Pereira, which goes back more than 30 years.
Pereira was represented by its president José Enrique Pereira Molares, whose sister Ana took the role of the new vessel’s godmother, cracking the traditional bottle against the hull plates to send Argos Berbés down the slipway.
“We are proud to continue investing with our partners at Argos Group in the renewal of our fleet and in a fishing area with such an important target species for us as the Patagonian squid. A model fishing area for sustainability and responsible fishing,” José Enrique Pereira said.
Technologically advanced
Nodosa’s commercial director José Ramón Regueira commented that the new vessel “is at the forefront in every aspect”.
“It is an honour to design and build such technologically advanced and environmentally friendly vessels on a fully customised basis for shipowners who understand that quality and sustainability are the way forward, and where Nodosa is fully involved,” he said.
Argos Berbés has accommodation for 74 persons and its 4640kW Wärtsilä 8L32 engine provides a 15.50-knot steaming speed.
Its full package of electric deck equipment, including the main trawl winches, net drum, sweepline winches and associated equipment was delivered by Naust Marine.
The cranes are from Guerra and the wheelhouse has been outfitted with largely Furuno and Simrad electronics. The processing deck systems have been supplied by Vigo company Josmar, which also delivered the catch-handling systems for Prion and for Hadassa Bay, which was built by Astilleros Ría de Vigo, both of which are also joining the loligo fishery for the first time this season.
The refrigerated fishroom has a 2,442-cubic-metre capacity and the processing deck freezers have a throughput capacity of 120 tonnes per 24 hours. These use ammonia as their refrigeration agent.
