Icelandic fishing, processing and aquaculture company Hraðfrystihúsið-Gunnvör has placed an order for a new factory freezer trawler to be built at Astilleros Ria de Vigo, the former Barreras shipyard which has been acquired by Astilleros Armón, enabling the yard to expand its activities in Vigo.
The delivery of the new vessel is scheduled for the second half of 2026, and it will replace the company’s current factory vessel, the 57-metre Júlíus Geirmundsson ÍS-270 which was built in Poland in 1989.
Hraðfrystihúsið-Gunnvör went back to Skipasýn for the design of the new factory trawler, as its Skipasýn-designed fresher trawler Páll Pálsson has performed extremely well since it was delivered to the company six years ago.
The new factory trawler will have dimensions of 67.1 metres overall with a 16-metre beam, and the same principles as went into Páll Pálsson’s design are applied to the newbuild, with a 3,600kW MAN main engine driving a slow-running, large-diameter propeller of not less than 5,000mm, to deliver a bollard pull of 76 tonnes. This is a combination that delivers economic performance, and energy economy is a key aspect of the overall design – as is crew comfort.
Accommodation for a crew of up to 27 is all in single, en-suite cabins.
The working environment is also designed to ensure the best possible working conditions with minimal heavy lifting. The processing deck is to be outfitted with catches routed via the heading machines to RSW-cooled pounds before passing to the filleters or to vertical plate freezers. Filleted fish go to trimming stations before being packed and frozen in an automated freezers system.
Frozen production is channelled to boxing and from there to a computer-controlled freezer hotel for automatic palletisation, wrapping and transfer via an elevator to the refrigerated fishroom. Technology to produce fish oil and side-stream products is part of the design.
New Júlíus Geirmundsson will have 940- and 590-cubic-metre fish holds, as well as 30-cubic-metre fish oil tanks.
Hraðfrystihúsið-Gunnvör operates two trawlers, shore-based production and a canning plant. Its aquaculture subsidiary Háafell is engaged in salmon farming in the Ísafjörður Deep and is building a hatchery at Nauteyri.
