Pump systems “with great emphasis on animal welfare” have been ordered by the Norwegian yard building the wellboat Ronjafisk for specialist fleet operator, Solvtrans.
More than a wellboat, the vessel will also “sort” and “process” fish.
The yard, Aas Mekaniske Verksted, said it ordered the “low-pressure fish pumps from PG Flow Solutions to ensure “continuous seawater circulation” aboard the Ronjafisk, as salmon from fish farms are transported live. The circulation system can recirculate 16,000 cubic metres of seawater per hour.
In Novermber, PG Flow won contracts for an identical Aas Mekaniske build for Solvtrans Rederi. Today’s award is an exercise of a contract option from that original vessel deal.
Capital item
For a snap on the undisclosed price of the vessel and pumps, Export Credit Norway disbursed EUR 25 million (NOK237.5 million) to Solvtrans Rederi for the Ronia Diaomond, a EUR 33.4 million ship that went off course and then aground not long ago. The Ronia Diamond was described as “the most modern wellboat the world has seen”, when she was Christened in Bergen on Sept. 23rd, 2017.
The Flow Solutions pump is said to offer easy maintenance for vessel crews, an important consideration in a new fisheries segment hoping to avoid full oceangoing pay grades like “Captain” and “DP”.
“The vessel crew can easily maintain the pumps themselves, without support from an external service technician,” a statement assures, adding, “This saves both time and cost for the vessel owner.”
Price comparisons
The 69.69-meter Ronjafisk is 18 m wide and is “adapted to the wellboat company’s circulation principle of sideways circulation in the cargo spaces as well as closed transport”.
Two cargo holds on the Ronjafisk can amass 2,500 cubic meters, or 375 tonnes of live fish. The 80 m Ronia Diamond’s holds can carry 3,500 cu. m. or 550 t of fish.
PG Flow Solutions is based in Hvalstad, Norway, near Norway’s old “marine-pump cluster”, an original source of supplier wealth in the country. It now also builds pumps in Worcester, U.K.
