Fincantieri’s subsidiary to build innovative trawler for Akraberg.

VARD, Fincantieri’s subsidiary and one of the major global designers and shipbuilders of specialized vessels, signed an important contract for the design and construction of a sophisticated unit for the company P/F Akraberg, part of the Framherji group, one of the leading and most innovative fishing companies in the Faroe Islands.

VARD Søviknes shipyard (Picture source: VARD)

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 of Oil&Gas market. In this context, Vard is finalizing another important contract, which will mark its entry in a new and promising market segment.

The unit for Akraberg will be the first operating in the Faroe Islands whose project has been fully designed by Vard. It will be 84 meters long with a beam of 16.7 meters, with accommodation arranged for 25 people in single cabins on board. The Norwegian shipyards of the Group have in the past built many similar vessels for the ship owners of these islands, and they were considered highly innovative at the time, thus contributing to a significant general progress of the entire industry.

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 secure 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 the 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 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.

Fincantieri’s subsidiary to build innovative trawler for Akraberg (Picture source: VARD)