Sealord's new $70million freezer stern trawler will be making regular appearances in Dunedin after May next year, sharing its port calls equally with its home port, Nelson.
The 81.7m-long stern trawler is barely into week 20 of its build in Norway. The first few of eight "blocks" that will be joined together to make the hull have recently been delivered from Poland.
The new vessel will expand Sealord’s overall fleet to six owned vessels and two leased and is expected to be operational from May next year.
Sealord fleet harvest manager Scott Gillanders said the vessel was at present about a fortnight ahead of schedule. Once finished, it would complete sea trials in Norway by March next year, then would be partially rigged during its 40-day delivery passage to Nelson.
"Once audits have been carried out we expect her to be out [fishing] in May," he said.
Sealord’s shareholders are Maori-owned Moana New Zealand (Aotearoa Fisheries) and Japanese Nippon Suisan Kaisha, which are combining cash and bank debt to fund the $70 million project.
Mr Gillanders said unemployment in the fishing industry was at present quite low and filling vacancies was "challenging".
"We’ll be looking for staff from Dunedin and right across the South Island. Economical flights nowadays mean people can easily fly to and from work if necessary," he said.
He expected port calls would be shared equally between Nelson and Dunedin, where Sealord vessels already re-provision and refuel on a regular basis.
While having seasonal fluctuations, Sealord employs up to 950 staff at times, comprising up to 400 at sea, up to 400 in land-based jobs and about 150 in support roles such as administration, marketing, finance and IT.
The new vessel would fish as far north as off New Plymouth, off both coasts of the South Island, in subantarctic waters and east around the Chatham Rise.
The ship is the first large trawler built for New Zealand waters in 20 years and Mr Gillanders said it would be "state of the art", not only in fish processing but in crew accommodation and facilities.
"There’s home comforts and the ergonomics of the ship and the factory are much more attractive," Mr Gillanders said.
Depending on the season, the vessel would target mackerel, hoki, ling, southern blue whiting and squid, all of which could be processed at sea and frozen. However, the ship also had facilities for the second processing of filleted fish for its fish meal plant and rendering down crude fish oil for customers such as fish oil exporter SeaDragon.
"There really is nothing wasted; we use all the fish," Mr Gillanders said.
He said recruiting would begin in coming months. The ship would require up to 100 staff: about 50 for each voyage plus a turnaround crew on shore.The 50 crew were split into two shifts because the vessel operated 24/7 at times, Mr Gillanders said.
Shipbuilder Simek does construction updates online. It said the vessel’s steel structures were now complete and piping and other outfitting had been started.
The eight hull parts were being made in Poland and the vessel’s superstructure, including wheelhouse and mast, was being built by Simek.
At a glance
81.7m length overall, 17m beam
Rolls Royce nine-cylinder 7500hp engine, 1070cu m fuel
Auxiliary diesels and bow thruster
Three 60-tonne trawl winches, deck cranes
Cruising speed: 16 knots
Crew capacity: Up to 50
Freezer capacity: 20,000 tonnes, 1750cu m
Fish oil capacity: 60cu m
Fish meal capacity: 720cu m
Target species: Mackerel, squid, ling, hoki, southern blue whiting
—Source: Sealord/Designers Skipsteknisk
