VESSEL REVIEW | Skulebas – Fishing training vessel delivered to Norwegian owner

Hvide Sande Shipyard in Denmark has handed over a new fishing/training vessel ordered by the Vestland County Municipality of Norway.

Named Skulebas, the vessel boasts compartments that will function as classrooms to help train aspiring fishing vessel crews. Accommodations are available for up to four crewmembers as well as 16 students and instructors. The newbuild will replace a similarly named vessel that has been in service in Vestland County for nearly 43 years.

The vessel has a steel hull, an LOA of 35.3 metres, a beam of 10.5 metres, a depth of 3.77 metres, and a gross tonnage of 482. The hybrid diesel-electric propulsion system consists of Scania DI13 91M 400ekW and DI16 90M 600kWe generators, two 450kW electric motors, and a 1,017kWh battery. The generators turn a controllable-pitch propeller via a Nogva Heimdal HGH5F gearbox to deliver a speed of 13 knots. Also fitted are PMH bow and aft thrusters, an MT2500 steering system from AS Scan, Danfoss inverters, and a DEIF power management system to ensure optimum output under a range of speed settings.

The fishing equipment includes trawling, longlining, and seining gear while the deck equipment consists of AS Scan winches and TMP Hydraulik cranes. The electronics suite includes Furuno radars.

The accommodation spaces include cabins and a galley with equipment in the latter supplied by Loipart. Deck space is also available for a Viking fast rescue boat while Survitec provided the onboard firefighting gear.

Design work on Skulebas was done jointly by Hvide Sande Shipyard and Norwegian naval architecture firm Solstrand Trading in compliance to Bureau Veritas class rules and Norwegian Maritime Authority requirements. Construction of the hull was undertaken at Finomar Shipyard in Poland while final outfitting took place at Hvide Sande Shipyard's facilities in Denmark. The development of the vessel was partly financed by Norwegian state enterprise Enova, which stipulated that a hybrid diesel-electric propulsion be fitted to help reduce emissions.

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