VESSEL REVIEW | Christina S – Herring and mackerel trawler built for Scottish waters

Danish shipbuilder Karstensens Skibsværft recently handed over a new trawler to a partnership formed by Scottish fishing companies Freedom Fish, Shannon Fishing, and Peter and J. Johnstone.

The DNV-classed, 77-metre (250-foot) Christina S replaces an earlier, similarly named vessel skippered by Scottish fisher Allan Simpson. Like its predecessor, the newer Christina S also operates as a pelagic trawler focusing on herring, mackerel, and blue whiting. Construction of the hull took place at Karstensens’ shipyard in Poland while final outfitting was undertaken in Skagen, Denmark.

The vessel design, specification, and arrangements are a result of an extensive and close cooperation between the owners and the yard where all solutions are optimised and tailor made to suit specific requirements. The main focus was on optimising working spaces; catch handling and storage facilities; and fuel consumption.

Comprehensive equipment and machinery selection

The trawler’s hull is built in steel with two continuous decks – a main deck and a shelter deck – and with long forecastle and boat decks. The wheelhouse, one of the boat decks, the funnel, and the masts are made of aluminium. The hull shape is of round bilge construction with a bulbous bow and stern skeg, a flared stem, and a transom stern.

The array of deck equipment consists of SeaQuest winches and cranes, Brødrene Markussen trawl blocks, and Max Fodgaard anchors and chains. The fish handling equipment includes two Johnson Controls 1,506kW RSW tanks and a Cflow vacuum pump.

The vessel also features a trawl gallow that can accommodate two main towing blocks as well as tail-end and top line blocks. A net sounder winch is fitted on top of the gallow.

During heaving/shooting operations at fishing, when the winch system is in use, the gearbox PTO will be clutched in, and electrical power will be supplied from the shaft alternator. When there is demand for full power on the winches, there will normally be a lower demand for power on the main engine.

During normal towing, the shaft alternator can be disengaged via the switchboard and the electrical power will be supplied by either of the two auxiliary generators. These generators will be able to connect into the main switchboard and controlled by the vessel’s DEIF power management system.

An on-bus-bar breaker is fitted on the main switchboard to allow the aft thruster to be fed off the shaft alternator and the forward thrusters and the hotel load to be fed off the diesel generators.

The electrical power system is fitted for sliding frequency (50 to 60 Hz) by means of frequency converters. This will allow the main engine and the propeller rpms to be reduced by as much as 17 per cent.

Comfortable liveaboard spaces

Below the main deck, the hull is subdivided into a forepeak, a sonar room, a thruster room, an insulated RSW tank section, an engine room with ventilation equipment, and an aft peak. All belowdeck compartments are watertight. The forecastle deck meanwhile has an enclosed area for the winches and a roll reduction tank.

The accommodation spaces include a selection of one- and two-person cabins, laundry rooms, a mess, a common toilet, a cinema, a day room, a hospital, a trawl workshop/store, a provision room, a gym, a coffee bar, and a compartment for storing rescue equipment. The crew cabins all come with en suite toilet/shower facilities. Work on the interior spaces was undertaken by Maritime Montering while Ekornes supplied the furniture.

The vessel’s wheelhouse electronics are from Furuno and Simrad while the water mist firefighting equipment is from Survitec. Viking Norsafe provided the MOB boat and its dedicated davit plus the two liferafts.