‘Gentle solution’ for new concept wellboat

A NEW wellboat, being billed as the world’s biggest and currently under construction in Turkey, is to be fitted with a Cflow fish handling system, it was announced today. The wellboat, commissioned by Norwegian firm Frøy Rederi and being built at Sefine Shipyards in Turkey, which is also Cflow’s contracting party, will be 83.72m long, 30.9m wide, and have a storage capacity of 7,500 cubic metres. Due to be delivered in 2021, it will exceed the capacity, but not the length, of today’s largest wellboat, the Solvtrans owned Ronja Storm, which is 116 m long, 23m wide and has 7,450 cubic metres capacity, twice as much as standard wellboats. Ronja Storm is due to sail this autumn across the world to Australian salmon farmer Huon, and its builders, Havyard in Norway, said recently that manufacture of the NOK 500 million (£45.5 million) boat was on track. The new Frøy Rederi ship is reportedly for a Norwegian salmon farmer and its cost has not been disclosed, but it represents an innovative ‘concept with several new solutions for the future aquaculture industry’, said Cflow, which designed the vessel with Frøy Rederi and Møre Maritime. ‘A vessel of this size obviously requires a fish handling system that is capable of processing large volumes of fish,’ said Gunnar Hoff, CMO and head of the fishery and aquaculture business areas at Cflow. ‘I firmly believe that we have the market’s most gentle solutions for pumping, delousing, transport and cooling of fish, and that this has helped us secure this contract.’ Cflow will deliver a complete system for handling of live fish, including large sliding bulkheads for the vessel’s storage area. The equipment will be delivered in 2020 and early 2021, and Frøy Rederi and Sefine Shipyards have contract options to equip the vessel with further on-board fish handling solutions. Arnstein Johansen, CEO of Cflow, said: ‘The size of the contract reflects the size of the vessel and its fish handling system. ‘It is easy to understand that this is an important contract to us. This will become an impressive wellboat and we are proud to contribute towards the project.’ Cflow will assemble its fish handling system at the company’s facility in Langevaag outside Aalesund, Norway. Cflow, a subsidiary company of PG Flow Solutions, based in Sande, Vestfold, develops, designs and manufactures fish handling systems for the fishery and aquaculture industry. Steve Paulsen, CEO of the PG Flow Solutions group, said: ‘When we became co-owners of Cflow, our intention was to combine the company’s unique fish welfare competence and technology with PG Flow Solutions’ liquid handling and pump competence. ‘This contract confirms that we are succeeding with this approach, with Cflow as the group’s spearhead towards the aquaculture industry.’