Despite the impressive size of pelagic trawler/factory ships, few realize that such ships use very small nets as their processing capacity is only 300 metric tons per 24 hours - unlike regular pelagic trawlers which can take over 1,000 metric tons in a single night's fishing.
It sent a few ripples through the industry at the time.
Two Dutch pelagic operators, both of them family-owned companies with the flexibility and vision to take bold steps, had placed orders for new factory trawlers – but not with a Dutch yard.
The two new ships were built within a mile or two of each other.
Parlevliet & Van der Plas’Maartje Theodora KW-171was built at the Factorias Vulcano yard in Vigo, Spain.
Van der Zwan’s Willem van der Zwan SCH-302 took shape at the Freire yard, also in Spain.
The IJsselwerf yard just outside Rotterdam that had built a string of these specialised pelagic freezer trawlers for the four Dutch owners over the years faced...
