VESSEL REVIEW | Polar Bay – Greenland-based factory longliner boasts harsh weather capability

Tersan Shipyard of Turkey recently delivered a new factory longliner to Greenland fishing company Polar Seafood.

Polar Bay was designed by Norway's Marin Teknikk in compliance to DNV class rules, with an ice-reinforced hull that will enable operations in the waters off Antarctica. The deep-ocean-capable newbuild has an LOA of 60.5 metres, a moulded beam of 13 metres, accommodations for 30 people, and a Yanmar 6EY26 main engine with a rated output of 1,920 kW driving a gearbox and controllable-pitch propeller arrangement supplied by Brunvoll.

Richard Gjerde, Sales Director at Marin Teknikk, said the hull design and propulsion system will enable the vessel to operate safely even in demanding ice conditions while reducing emissions of exhaust gases.

The vessel also has a Caterpillar C32 auxiliary engine and a C9.3 emergency generator and two FU45 side thrusters from Brunvoll.

The array of fishing equipment includes a Mustad hydraulic longline installation with 60,000 hooks, a MagPacker storage system, and a hauling station with hook cleaner and line retriever. The factory deck and its associated equipment were provided by Westmek and are capable of handling residual material from the processing of frozen toothfish. There is also a palletising system in the fishroom so that processed catch can be easily stored on board and later offloaded in port without affecting product quality.

In addition to Polar Bay's longlining equipment, a moonpool is also available to enable the vessel to fish even under harsh weather conditions. The catch will be hauled directly into the vessel's interior instead of over the side, which could otherwise put crews at risk depending on outside environmental conditions.

The wheelhouse has NorSap seating for the crew as well as CCTV cameras and a radiotelephone setup supplied by Sunncom.

Polar Bay is registered under the flag of the British South Atlantic territory of Saint Helena. The vessel has already begun operational sailings, concentrating in the Southern Ocean where it will catch Patagonian toothfish.

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