Turkey's Tersan Shipyards is carving out a lucrative and important niche for itself in the international medium to large fishing and fish farming vessel market. This innovative wellboat is a fine example of that relentless trend.
She is a big, powerful, LNG-fuelled, hybrid-powered ship that is serving the Norwegian salmon farming industry. Equipped with the best of everything and then some, she is safe, comfortable, economical, dry, and very sound environmentally.
"Harald Martin is unique for her hybrid propulsion and her advanced fish handling system," Elif Şahin, Tersan Shipyard Marketing Communications Executive, told Baird Maritime. "With her two LNG deck tanks, four fuel conditioning systems and batteries contributing to her innovative design, she is a significant and fully redundant LNG-powered vessel."
The wellboat is also notable for its impressive cargo hold capacity of 4,300 cubic metres, its fish delousing equipment, its luxuriously appointed crew accommodations, and its DP system that enables effective station keeping. According to Şahin, all these attributes make it suitable for offshore fish farming duties.
Such capabilities presented some challenges during the construction phase, which Şahin claims was also true for earlier sister vessel Bjørg Pauline.
"This was due to their stemming from a prototype design with advanced propulsion and fish handling systems. The redundancy and the technology fitted on board also carried corresponding requirements as regards automation and control, which of course had to be satisfied."
Challenges were also faced in the installation of the LNG propulsion on this particular vessel despite Tersan's prior experience in working on LNG-powered newbuildings. Nonetheless, Şahin said the integration of the various companies involved in the vessel's construction was an important task in ensuring a harmonious collaboration.
The delivery of Harald Martin was one of the things that made 2021, "a record-breaking year for Tersan Shipyard," in Şahin's own words.
"We delivered eight newbuilds of various types last year," Şahin told Baird Maritime. "These include fishing vessels, wellboats, passenger vessels, and offshore vessels, and this resulted in our highest turnover ever."
The yard has also secured additional newbuilding contracts including those for six tailor-made vessels. The current orderbook contains 18 projects spread out over a three-year period, thus leading to the company becoming optimistic about its future.
"In 2021, we also took steps towards increasing our facilities' dependence on green energy. Early that year, we started getting all our electricity from I-rec certified wind farms, and we augmented this with the installation of around 8,000 units of roof-mounted solar panels on our workshops. This setup now accounts for 30 per cent of our electricity needs."
Tersan recognises the fishing industry's growth each year, as evidenced by around 33 per cent of newbuilding orders and half of current projects being made up of fishing vessels.
"We therefore expect a bright period for the fishing vessel industry over the next few years," Şahin told Baird Maritime. "We also expect stable growth in demand for new vessels will not be limited to just fishing vessels but also those involved in the aquaculture segment if the industry."
