“Yes, we’re interested in building aquaculture vessels,” said Ozata Shipyard business development manager, Cankut Demirkol, before revealing, “We are now in negotiations for at least one new-build live-fish carrier that we expect to be finalized in January.”
Demirkol would not disclose the charter party.
Earlier this week SalmonBusiness reported that Point Offshore had toured Turkish yards and had sales leads from Norwegian owners for a single-hull combined workboat-processor. Mr. Demirkol confirmed both Icelandic charter parties and Norwegians had dropped by Ozata, and the renewed interest has the Turkish yard thinking of brighter times.
Surprisingly for its North-Atlantic exposure, Iceland has a growing aquaculture industry that produces over 8,500 tonnes of Atlantic salmon a year. They also have comparable ship designers to Norway.
However, NSK Ship Design appears to be involved in the live-fish carrier order. NSK has a number of aquaculture designs: a giant offshore fish-farm; a fish-pellet carrier fuelled by liquefied natural gas; live-fish carriers and service vessels. Turkish yards are known for building Marine Harvest fish-feed vessels along with modern Norwegian ferries and offshore service vessels. The signs are they could be in the running for larger aquaculture designs.
“Business is good. We’re working on the new (aquaculture business), and we hope to finalise that first deal by February, latest,” Demirkol said.
