At the end of January, Faroe Island ship owner P/F Hvalnes was due to greet its most advanced fishing boat.
The vessel was originally due to be finished in mid-2008, but there have been some minor delays. Much has been written about the vessel's capacities, however, little has been mentioned about the on board production.
The Nordborg is equipped with separate deck equipment for trawling and purse seining. The vessel is arranged for producing herring, mackerel, capelin and blue whiting. To do this the on board factory has been equipped with seven fully automatic handling systems from Swedish supplier Arenco VMK. Nordic Supply System AS situated in Norway is the main sales representative for VMK.
Automatic on board production
From the infeed facilitated by the RSW system, the fish is delivered to a specially designed tub with an elevator and feeder which ensures that the fish is positioned correctly.
• Nobbing: The VMK nobbing machine accurately and efficiently removes the head and tail of the fish and then evacuates the viscera using a patented vacuum system synchronised to the travel of the fish for increased suction time. Stainless steel pockets carry the fish to precision measuring devices that customise the position of the head and tail cut for each individual fish, achieving high yield.
• Filleting: The VMK filleting machine is a high precision combination automatic feeding, heading and filleting machine which produces high-yield butterfly or single fillets. The machine can produce 300 fish/min equipped with the vision system. Also, if required, the filleting section can be operated as a hand-fed stand-alone machine.
This section can also be equipped with a belly cut device and brush system in order to secure the removal of viscera in some species which are quite difficult to rinse, i.e. mackerel, horse mackerel and blue whiting. Equipping this system means removing the filleting knives, an operation which is performed quickly.
• Skinning: Equipped with the specially designed VMK skinning machine which removes the skin in such a way that a fine silver surface remains on the herring fillet. This is fully automated and adjustable ensuring high yield.
The whole processing line is operator free and is monitored by a highly advanced vision system. All residues from the factory are transported to the fishmeal processing plant on board.
Nordborg will operate mainly on the fishing grounds around the Faroe Islands, the North Sea, the Atlantic Ocean as well as the maritime zones around Iceland and the Barents Sea.
The 83.5m long vessel has accommodation for 30 people, and the newbuilding will be delivered with the most modern electronics, fish-finding and communication equipment.
