To celebrate 100 years in the fishing industry next year, Norway's Odd Lundberg will receive a combination trawl and seine newbuild -- a vessel from Danish shipyard Karstensen Skibsværft at a cost of around NOK 200 million ($24.2 million/€21.2 million).

In 2015, the family-owned enterprise sold its 15-year-old vessel, the Odd Lundberg, to Russian fishing company Kamtchatka. It then purchased the replacement vessel the Havstål and rechristened it the Odd Lundberg. 

The combination vessel will be sold when the newbuild comes in next June. 

“We decided now was the right time," said Skipper Mats Lundberg of Odd Lundberg. "With our operation, we have full rights with regard to pelagic trawl, and due to the large quotas in this type of fishing we are keen on obtaining larger cargo carrying capacity. 

"Cargo capacity that we’ll be getting with the new build is 2,100 metric tons," he said. "We are looking to raise the bar on our levels of efficiency, especially when operating on the western side of Ireland."

The new boat will be the fourth newbuild for the company, and will operate about five months of the year in fishing grounds south in the North Sea, in the Atlantic and certain stretches of the Barents Sea.

The company is not fully accommodating for purse seine, but has maximum quotas for pelagic trawl.

“We are always on the lookout to expand on the purse seine side. We will also prioritize investments in fishing quotas,” Lundberg explained.

Odd Lundberg is engaged in industrial fishing and needs more capacity in this area.

“This year we’re mostly fishing sand eel in terms of tonnage, then blue whiting, followed by herring and mackerel," he said. "The industrial fishing necessitates obtaining a bigger boat."

According to Karstensen Skibsværft, construction of the new trawler is a close cooperation between the company and the shipyard. Safety and comfort are prioritized in the build. The entire cargo deck has been made water-tight. 

Freeboard space was also increased by three meters, which enhances safety conditions for the crew. The winches, net hauler and fish pump are electrically powered and designed for future compatibility.

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The newbuild is almost 70 meters long and will contain more equipment than the trawl boat currently operated by the company. 

As with vessels Karstensen Skibsværft have built for other international companies, the Odd Lundberg has been designed by the shipyard. It is a combination vessel that promotes operational efficiency by being able to swap between seine and trawl fishing consecutively.

The vessel’s engine power will be comprised of a main engine of 3600 kW with a two-speed gear and propeller system.

According to Lundberg, the boat’s main engine is optimized in relation to the vessel’s operational profile, and will include the opportunity to steam with a variable RPM (revolutions per minute). 

This function enables the auxiliary engines to be coupled to the gearbox providing additional power when required. 

The company has also selected the Ventus housing monitoring system for extra focus on identifying wear-and-tear at an earlier stage, thereby preventing marine discharge. 

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