Andrew Stark of Stark Bros, New Zealand, announced the name of their new 13-metre trawler and launched the 'Nessie J' on Friday, March 20.
The vessel was designed and built by Stark Bros. at their Lyttelton Ship Building facility for Ocean Fisheries, New Zealand.
The 'Nessie J', has been a long-term project in the Stark Bros. workshop. Always an intentional "spec project", this vessel has in many ways already fulfilled a useful purpose, even before she begins work as a fishing trawler. With the keel being laid in 1998, this vessel has smoothed the workflow for Stark Bros. in the quiet periods between other commercial vessel building projects and major dry docking contracts. It has also allowed for the training of apprentices, the learning of skills in a trade where very few timber vessels of this size are now being built.
The 'Nessie J' follows close on the heels of other Stark-constructed vessels in recent years with the 'Frontier' launched in August 2004, and the 'Jubilee' launched in January 2008.
The name 'Nessie J' has been derived from the names of the forefathers of the Stark Bros. company, with the names of Andrew Stark's grandparents being Nessie and James Stark.
The 'Nessie J' is a traditional inshore fishing vessel, and will fish the inshore waters from Lyttelton and around Banks Peninsula. In conjunction with Ocean Fisheries, Stark has been trialling the use of bio diesel, with the 'Nessie J' being commissioned on a B60 blend: 60 percent bio diesel with 40 percent petroleum diesel. Again this follows their other vessels with the 'Frontier' running a B60 blend and the 'Jubilee' running on 100 percent bio diesel or B100, the first commercial vessel to do so in New Zealand.