The Nueva Pescanova Group has seen the launch of the first of four new freezer vessels which will renew part of its fleet in Mozambique and be used for shrimp fishing by its subsidiary, Pescamar.
The Ponta Matirre was launched at the Armón shipyard in Vigo in Spain.
The ship’s name was chosen by the captains of the group’s subsidiary and is a geographical position in the middle of Sofala bank, the wild shrimp fishing ground where the Nueva Pescanova Group operates in Mozambique. The completion of this fishing unit is scheduled for the end of this year.
The 30m vessel, to be manned by a crew of 22, is one of seven vessels commissioned to renew some of Nueva Pesconova’s fishing fleet in Namibia and Mozambique and is part of a wider ship building project.
In addition to the four freezer vessels for Mozambique, the company will build three 50m wetfish trawlers that will be engaged in hake fishing by Novanam and Lalandii, the group’s subsidiaries in Namibia. The delivery of the first of the vessels for Namibia, the Lalandii 1, will be by the end of this month.
All vessels will be equipped to improve the onboard processing as well as the working conditions for the crews. All seven vessels will be built at Armón shipyard’s facilities in Burela and Vigo in Spain, for an aggregated investment of €42.5m and will require the creation of around 200 jobs.
