The vessel is scheduled for delivery in February 2013.

The new vessel, which will be named Vendla, is the third fishing vessel design that Wärtsilä is to produce for the company.

“The fishing vessel segment is very important to us and we are currently investing in order to further develop our designs. This is a segment where we have long experience and many excellent references, and this latest contract is very gratifying,” says Arne Stenersen, Director Offshore and Specials Ship Design Solutions, and Managing Director, Wärtsilä Ship Design in Norway. He adds that the company is currently working on a number of new projects in this area.

More environmentally friendly

Wärtsilä's scope of delivery includes all the drawings and documentation that the shipyard needs to build the ship.

“This latest vessel is a modernised and new edition of the design the company has now, which has worked very well for them. In the new design, we have improved everything from the hull to the onboard equipment and systems. One of the main goals has been to raise the environmental profile. This has been achieved by reducing the fuel consumption and harmful exhaust emissions through optimising the hull lines of the vessel, and equipping the ship with a hybrid shaft generator and an exhaust treatment system. Together with the shipowner, we have designed a very modern and energy-efficient vessel, which is optimised for the speed needed for either transit or fishing - the two operations that constitute most of the vessel’s operational profile,” says Trygve Eiken, General Manager, Project Development, Wärtsilä Ship Design.

40 years of experience

Other important factors in the development of the VS6109 design include the safety and comfort of the crew. To ensure the best possible quality of fish delivered to shore, much work has also gone into the design of facilities that provide for the rapid cooling and storage of the catch by the use of refrigerated seawater (RSW).

The new purse seiner/trawler will be 76.40m long, 15.60m wide, with a moulded depth of 9.30m and a loading volume of fish and refrigerated seawater (RSW) of 2,200m³.

Wärtsilä Ship Design in Norway began by designing fishing vessels, and now has around 40 years of experience with such vessels.

“The fisheries sector around the North Sea has confidence in our designs. Vendla AS is one of the companies with whom we have had contact for many years. They trust us to design good vessels for them, and that is probably one important reason why we were awarded this contract” says Trygve Eiken. He also highlights the importance of the good co-operation, both with Vendla and Fitjar Mekaniske Verksted, on this project.