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  • New green Gitte Henning

    GITTE HENNING fishing company is leading the way by bringing fishing in blue Denmark into a new, green age by contracting a new, environmentally friendly pelagic fishing vessel from the Spanish shipyard Zamakona in Bilbao.

    Henning Kjeldsen says he initially intended to withdraw from fishing after the sale of Gitte Henning to the Faroe Islands, as well as receiving offers for all his pelagic fishing rights. After thinking about the future, I got cold feet doing nothing, and contacted Salt Ship Design, says Henning.

    Together, Henning and Salt have now designed a new, green Gitte Henning. The new fishing vessel will have a number of environmentally friendly solutions, many of them new in pelagic fishing. Throughout the design process and in the choice of equipment, the focus has been on improving quality of the fish and reducing emissions through reduced energy consumption and efficient power production.

    By ordering a new Gitte Henning it is the fourth time Henning Kjeldsen and the Sandvik family are designing a vessel together, and the second time Henning is ordering a Salt-design.

     

    REDUCED ENERGY CONSUMPTION

    Propulsion and manoeuvring

    The one large propeller that is common on pelagic trawlers has been replaced by two propellers and a twin-skeg hull design. Extensive flow analysis and model tests result is a more efficient stern and propeller design, which provides larger trawling pull and less fuel consumption during trawling. Large rudder angles are often needed on conventional fishing vessels to maintain course, even in moderate weather conditions. Two propellers provide the opportunity to steer the ship with minimal rudder impact, which reduces additional energy requirements during sailing and trawling.

    Permanent Magnet Motor (PM)

    The two propellers are powered by two electric Permanent Magnet (PM) motors. This type of motor has less electrical loss and can operate significantly more efficient than conventional electric motors throughout the power range – particularly at low engine speeds. Low propeller rpm has the following advantages:

    • Better propeller efficiency at typical loading
    • No need for reduction gear and thus no mechanical loss
    • Reduced noise

    Electrical winches

    All winches are also powered by PM motors for reduced loss and optimal operation. Electrical winches provide the opportunity to regenerate, the other vice lost, energy when the trawl is set. This energy is available to other consumers and can, for example, be used for propulsion or RSW (refrigerated sea water) cooling. Conventional hydraulic winches and fishing pumps require a system with a significant amount of hydraulic oil. The risk of hydraulic oil spill to sea is eliminated by choosing electric winches.

    RSW cooling and fish quality

    The RSW area at the new Gitte Henning is arranged in a new way that gives inner surfaces of the RSW tanks a smooth finish with no obstructions or sharp edges. The vessel is equipped with four independent cooling systems, with four RSW tanks per facility. This provides a more efficient cooling process by only cooling parts of the fish tank volume at the time, resulting in an optimal, energy saving cooling system. In addition, the capacity of the vacuum system for unloading has been increased by 40% compared to normal unloading capacity.

    Overall, this will provide a more careful handling of the fish that will improve quality.

    Electrical operation

    All electric motors, from winches to pumps, are frequency controlled. This will provide a more customised power supply and hence reduce the overall energy consumption.

     

    EFFICIENT POWER PRODUCTION

    Diesel Electric

    Five diesel generators, located in two separate engine rooms for the best possible safety and working environment, supply the propulsion PM motors and all other energy consumers on board. All generators are equipped with catalytic converter (SCR) to reduce emissions and meet new and stricter IMO Tier III requirements.

    The energy requirements of a pelagic trawler fluctuate significantly with varying weather, operational conditions, cooling requirements, speed, etc. The number and size of generators are chosen to optimize the power balance based on the vessel specific operational profile and give the diesel engine optimum operating conditions and thus high efficiency.

    Hybrid

    To further improve the operating conditions of the diesel engines, Henning has invested in a large battery pack that support the generators when the load is high and recharges when the load is low. Regenerated power from the winches during trawling also helps to charge the battery pack.

    In this way, the diesel engine will not experience the large load variations which in itself gives a fuel reduction of the range of ~ 10% based on the experience of other diesel electric vessels. So called ‘Peak Shaving’, i.e. the battery is ‘shaving’ the load peaks.

    The batteries are located in a separate room, thus providing an additional source of emergency power in addition to the diesel generators in the two engine rooms. In addition, they will significantly reduce noise and emissions in port.

    Main Data

    • Length: 87.60 m
    • Width: 20.00 m
    • Generator: Yanmar
    • PM motors: Brunvoll
    • Propeller: Brunvoll
    • Side thrusters: Brunvoll
    • Winches: Evotec
    • Cranes: SeaQuest
    • Electric fishing pumps: SeaQuest
    • Fish Handling: C-Flow
    • RSW: Johnson Control
    • Builder: Zamakona
    • Design: Salt Ship Design

     

     

     

     

     

     

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  • The world fishing fleet state according to the FAO

    The nutrition of the human has made fishing an essential practice and consequently has been the origin of the naval construction. This sector has been able to contribute in each moment f history solutions that have covered the needs of the fishing industry.

    In recent years, the fishing sector is facing big challenges due to a demand for greater profitability and performance, in addition to obey the different regulations regarding respect for the environment in all its aspects. To meet these challenges, the sector has reduced direct costs as the number of employees and has also been benefited by the price of fuel.

    As for the challenge of being more environmentally friendly, the gases such as CO2 and NOx have become a growing problem in a global perspective. To reduce these emissions, many governments plan to replicate land-based emissions taxes on emissions from ships in their fishing activities.

    While steps are being taken in the above mentioned, legislative changes are taking place regarding the specifications of fishing vessels, such as in the European Union, which foresees in the middle of the year 2017 to adopt a new regulation that grants to the Commission European competence to adapt the requirements for determining the continuous power of the engine to the technical developments and possible changes in the international ISO standards.

    World capture fisheries and aquaculture productionAccording to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in its latest biennial published report on the state of world fisheries and aquaculture (SOFIA), estimated that in 2014, there were 4.6 million fishing vessels, with Asia and Africa being the regions with the highest number of registrations, since they account for 90% of the total number of vessels worldwide.

    From a technical point of view, according to the same FAO report, 64% of registered vessels are engine-powered, an increase of 7% compared to the previous report for 2012. This report also states that in 2014, approximately 85 per cent of the world’s motorized fishing vessels were less than 12 meters long, and these small vessels dominated in all regions.

    In terms of capacity, and if we focus on Europe, the EuroStat Service estimates that in 2015 the European Union had a combined capacity of 1.6 million gross tons and a combined engine power of 6.4 million kilowatts. It is also noted that almost one-fifth (18.2%) of the EU-28 fishing fleet is registered in Greece. In terms of capacity, Spain, France, Italy and the United Kingdom had the largest fishing fleets, accounting for 53.9% of gross tonnage and 55.6% of engine power in 2015.

    There are positive data in the sector, such as the profitability of the sector. The European fishing fleet continues to be profitable, with net profits of 770 million euros in 2014, more than 50% above last year’s profits, according to the latest annual report prepared by the European Commission which also foresees record profits in the year 2016.

    In the case of Spain, it recorded a net profit margin of 16.5%, the third highest percentage in the EU, only surpassed by Slovenia (35.7%) and the United Kingdom (18.3%). Ireland, Latvia, Estonia and Portugal also had a profit margin of more than 10% in 2014.

    The outlook for fish and fisherie products trade by 2025, according to FAO, is also positive. Trade will continue to be high, driven mainly by increased consumption of fishery products, trade liberalization policies, globalization of food systems, technological innovations in shipbuilding, product development conservation, packaging and transport.

    All these data suggest that in the medium and long term the fishing fleet will continue to grow or will need to introduce elements of innovation in the existing fleet. Therefore, the naval sector has the opportunity to continue growing and providing added value to this sector with solutions that are more respectful of the environment and that can be applied to the current fleet, as well as the building of new ships according to the new demands of the ship-owners and legislative requirements in all respects.

    In this sense, Zamakona Yards has implemented the latest concepts of design and construction, as well as the most advanced technology in engineering and naval architecture in all the constructions, repairs and refit for the fishing vessels.

    If you want to read the full report of the FAO, you can download it here

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