World’s biggest wellboat handed over to Sølvtrans
The Ronja Storm, currently the world’s largest wellboat, has been formally handed over from Norway’s Havyard Ship Technology to Sølvtrans, the world’s biggest wellboat company.
According to a market announcement from the company, the ship will remain at the shipyard for a short period for completion of minor remaining work.
The vessel will then sail to the Australian state of Tasmania, where she will enter into a permanent contract with salmon farmer Huon.
Treating AGD
Ronja Storm will be able to produce as much as 700 cubic metres of fresh water per hour using reverse osmosis. The water will be used to combat amoebic gill disease (AGD).
“There are quite a lot of challenges with AGD in Tasmania. In addition, the cages there are normally very large, typically 240 metres in circumference. They can easily hold up to 1,000 tonnes,” Sølvtrans development manager Tor Ove Stenersen told Fish Farming Expert’s Norwegian sister site, Kyst.no, earlier this year.
“Freshwater is a scarce resource and expensive and one has to go far to get it. Lately, the emphasis within the aquaculture industry in Tasmania has been moving further and further south towards open water. Then it is a great advantage to be able to produce their own treatment water.
Better quality water
“Produced water is also of better quality, which means that one can have a greater density of fish than if one used river water.”
The vessel’s freshwater tanks have a 5,500m³ capacity, and its fish tanks have a capacity of 7,450m³.
When everything is completed, the vessel will undertake an approximately 50-day voyage to the other side of the globe. For safety reasons the ship will go via the Panama Canal.
