First ever LNG/battery wellboat on its way to salmon farmer
The world’s first gas / battery hybrid wellboat, the Bjørg Pauline, finally set course for northern Norway from the Tersan shipyard in Turkey yesterday after being delayed by more than a year.
The wellboat will be the very first with liquid natural gas (LNG) / battery hybrid propulsion. Together with a shore power connection, this technology will reduce the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by more than 20% and NOx emissions by 90%, compared to today’s wellboats.
The vessel, for Norwegian salmon farmer Nordlaks, was to be delivered in February last year but is more than a year late.
A long process
Nordlaks communications manager Lars Fredrik Martinussen told Fish Farming Expert’s Norwegian sister site, Kyst.no, that the wellboat is finally on its way.
“We expect the trip to take about 14 days. It has been a long process, but now the boat is finally ready for the trip home and we are very much looking forward to getting Bjørg Pauline home and in operation.”
Martinussen said the vessel will be in operation as soon as possible.
Running in
“A new vessel needs running in, so we must expect that there is no normal operation from day one,” he explained.
“The first assignment will be a crew change and subsequent inspection of the new vessel from the Norwegian Food Safety Authority. We will still have plenty of time to plan what will be the first wellboat assignment.”
The vessel was designed by NSK Ship Design and will mainly transport live salmon and rainbow trout between Nordlaks’ land-based hatchery to sea sites and on to the processing plant on Børøya in Hadsel.
600-tonne capacity
The vessel is 84 metres long, 19 metre wide and will have the capacity to transport more than 600 tonnes of live fish. It is equipped with dynamic positioning (DP) and is adapted to operate at exposed locations and to service Nordlaks’ ship-shaped salmon farm, Havfarm (pictured right).
The wellboat is also equipped with a mechanical delousing system from the Faroese company Sea Farm Innovations (SFI).
Nordlaks has also ordered a second wellboat, the Harald Martin, which is of the same design.
According to NSK Ship Design’s website, this vessel will also be delivered in 2021.
“Now that we have had long delays in the delivery of Bjørg Pauline, there are necessarily also delays in the delivery of vessel two compared to the original plan which was delivery in the first half of 2021,” Martinussen told Kyst.no.
