VESSEL REVIEW | Eloise Eslea – Treatment and utility workboats for Scotland’s Inverlussa Marine

Dutch shipbuilder Nauplius Workboats has completed construction of two new utility vessels slated for Scottish aquaculture support company Inverlussa Marine Services.

Sister vessels Eloise Eslea and Isaac Eslea are the second and third newbuilds ordered by Inverlussa from Nauplius. The first Nauplius-built vessel in the Inverlussa fleet is Camilla Eslea, a delousing boat currently operating on a long-term charter with Mowi Scotland.

Each of the two newbuilds has an LOA of 27 metres, a beam of 13 metres, a draught of 2.7 metres, a depth of 3.5 metres, a gross tonnage of 170, and accommodations for 12 crewmembers and other personnel. The newbuilds' key pieces of equipment include four-line delousing systems and remotely controlled HS.Marine AK48 knuckle boom cranes with maximum outreach of 20 metres on the open aft deck. The delousing system on each boat has a throughput of 200 tonnes per hour.

Other notable features include a heat recovery system and 225 square metres of space for additional equipment if the shelterdeck is not installed. The wider beam allows for the layout of the delousing system on each vessel to be reconfigured to improve efficiency. Scottish Sea Farms said this approach helps reduce treatment times for fish.

Protective barriers are installed around the lice filters and the fish sample areas to provide a cleaner, safer working environment for the crew. There is also added tank capacity to ensure the vessels can be used to treat amoebic gill disease if necessary.

The workboats are also each fitted with a diesel-electric propulsion system. Inverlussa said this will ensure optimum availability of power in every working condition in addition to increasing weather resilience. The inclusion of hybrid technology and advanced battery technology will enable the vessels to either use energy from the batteries, or store energy in the batteries when surplus energy is produced from the onboard generators.

The propulsion arrangement on each vessel consists of three Mitsubishi S6R2-T2MPTK main generators that each produce 610 kW, two Veth VL-400si 499kW L-drives, a 280kW bow thruster, a Corvus Orca Energy 400kWh battery pack, and a Volvo Penta D5A-T 70kW generator for use in harbour. The main propulsion delivers a speed of nine knots and a bollard pull of approximately 15 tonnes.

The electronics suite on each vessel includes equipment from Intellian. The crew accommodations meanwhile include six two-berth cabins with en suite toilets, a galley/mess/lounge, and a changing/drying area with its own toilet and laundry facilities. Ocean Kinetics and L&M Engineering undertook the engineering and electrical works on the vessels.

Eloise Eslea and Isaac Eslea will be operated by Inverlussa on contract with Scottish Sea Farms and Cooke Aquaculture Scotland, respectively.

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