Icelandic company Polar Fishing Gear has been busy with the Acera range of HMPE ropes manufactured by Timm in Slovakia, both for general rigging and deck applications, as well as for warps and also for aquaculture applications.

“We supplied a substantial package of ropes to the new Samherji and Fisk Seafood trawlers that were delivered last year, mainly for gilsons and general rigging on deck,” said Atli Jósafatsson at Polar Fishing Gear.

“But the Icelandic market isn’t our biggest one and we have been supplying a lot of unjacketed Amundsen ropes in particular to Fishering Service in Russia, mainly 12-strand braided rope in the 28 to 36mm size range for headlines, belly lines and sweeplines for pelagic trawls, plus we supply a lot of both Amundsen 12-strand ropes and daGama rope overbraided with an Acera protective jacket directly to the fishing companies operating their vessels from Las Palmas. These are the factory vessels that have the deck space and facilities available on board for the crew rig the gear at sea,” he said.

He commented that these high-strength ropes have performed well and are ideal for applications that require strength with the high stability and minimal elasticity that HMPE provides. Timm’s Heyerdahl three-strand HMPE rope has found a ready market in aquaculture for anchoring cages and giving cage systems a more secure framework, while the daGama rope protected by an HMPE jacket is increasingly replacing steel wire for sweeplines and backstrops, and also for trawl warps.