Faroe Business Report — The International Review of Faroe Islands Industry and Trade - Faroe Business Report — The International Review of Faroe Islands Industry and Trade

Vinnan gets a new RSW vessel of the highest caliber, possibly the last one for the Faroe Islands for a long time, considering recent cuts in pelagic fish quotas.

The Faroese fleet’s latest newcomer is pelagic vessel Tróndur í Gøtu, taking the name of the 11th century hero who lived in the coastal village where operating company Vinn­an is based.

The 230 million dkk (31m eur) ship is the most expensive ever to be built by Karstensens Skibsværft at Skagen in Denmark, and is one of the finest of its kind in the world.

At 6000 kW, Tróndur í Gøtu’s Wärtsilä main engine is smaller than that of Finnur Fríði, the company’s other modern pelagic vessel, but Tróndur í Gøtu is both longer and has a higher carrying capacity, while also being fitted with the latest in efficient running technology to maximise fuel efficiency and minimise emissions of greenhouse gases.

The RSW (refrigerated seawater) tanks on board have a 2700m3 capacity for carrying fresh-caught fish.

Tróndur í Gøtu features pump systems from Karmøy and Iras, as well as a sophisticated chiller system from Johnson Controls Marine for keeping catches in peak condition.

Deck equipment is a combination of Triplex winches for purse seining and Rolls-Royce winches for deploying trawl gear, giving the new vessel the option of switching from trawling to less fuel-hungry purse seining when the opportunities are there to catch capelin, herring and mackerel. The fourth target species is blue whiting, which is caught only in trawl gear.

Tróndur í Gøtu is fishing with a full set of Vónin fishing gear that includes a pair of brand-new purse seines and a new hex mesh Vónin herring trawl. The Vónin package also includes herring codends and a FlexiGrid sorting grid. Tróndur í Gøtu’s Injector Stealth F15 trawl doors are hung on Hampiðjan Dynex Warps.

Magnificent as it is, the Tróndur í Gøtu is likely to be the last one of its kind for the Faroes for a long time to come — there’s hardly enough quota around as a basis for this kind of investment from now on, industry analysts say.