Leading Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri’s subsidiary Vard signed a major contract for the design and construction of a state-of-the-art trawler for Akraberg, part of the Faroe Islands-based Framherji group, Fincantieri said in a statement.
The hull of the vessel will be built at the Romanian yard of the Group in Braila, while the final outfitting and the delivery of the unit, scheduled in the first quarter of 2022, will be carried out by the Norwegian yard of Brattvaag.
The contract, worth about 50 million euros, falls within Vard’s diversification strategy put in place over the past few years, following the downturn in the the oil and gas market, according to the statement.
"In this context, Vard is finalizing another important contract, which will mark its entry in a new and promising market segment," the statement said.
The new Akraberg nit will be the first operating in the Faroe Islands whose project has been fully designed by Vard. It will be 84 metres long with a beam of 16.7 metres, with accommodation arranged for 25 people in single cabins on board. The Norwegian shipyards of the Group have already built many highly innovative vessels for the ship owners of these islands, said the statement.
The project of the new ship, developed by Vard in close cooperation with Framherji, is based on a new-generation model which implements the latest and most advanced technologies in terms of efficiency and environmentally-friendly protection of the seas, fish and people.
Furthermore, the ship will be equipped with the most advanced and sophisticated green solutions to ensure the lowest possible impact on the quality of fishing operations and with particular attention to sustainable operations. To preserve the high quality of the fish, all the catch will be directly processed onboard, packed and stored in freezers or refrigerators also thanks to the use of biomass. The trawler will be equipped with a live fish tank to keep the fish healthy and fresh until processing, an advanced fish processing factory and high cargo capacity for refrigerated and frozen fish, the statement said.
The vessel's propulsion system will be hybrid combining both diesel-mechanical and diesel-electric propulsion, including batteries, allowing smokeless operation at anchor, in ports and in environmentally sensitive areas, according to the statement.
Vard is one of the major global designers and shipbuilders of specialized vessels, while the Framherji group one of the leading and most innovative fishing companies in the Faroe Islands
