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Press, 26 October 1989, Page 28

A new generation, 87 metre, deep water stern trawler which is under construction for Fietcher Fishing at an estimated cost of SNZ6S million. The managing director of Fletcher Fishing, Mr Jeff Jackson, said, “The vessel represents a quantum leap forward in our ability to catch and process a number of fish species on board. The highly automated processing equipment will be capable of producing a range of high quality market-ready products at internationally competitive costs.” The new boat should be operating in June, 1990. It can accommodate a crew of up to 90, depending on processing requirements.

Fletcher Fishing is New Zealand’s largest fishing company with 115,000 tonnes of quota and is a member of Fletcher Challenge’s primary and resources group. The vessel, which is a rebuild of a U.S. fishing vessel, will retain its U.S. flat status and will be equipped with

state of the art processing and electronic equipment including radar, fish finding, satellite communications (with telefax and telex facilities), satellite navigation and global positioning systems. It has been designed by the Norwegian naval architects, Skipteknisk A/S, and features twin processing decks which are becoming a hallmark of Norwegian design. It is being built at Kragero in southern Norway by Langsten Slip and Batbyggeri A/S. The vessel will be powered by two 4000 horse power main engines and a 3250 horse power auxiliary engine, and will have a speed of 16 knots. The two processing decks, which will be fitted with eight automated filleting lines and a 70 tonne a day surimi plant, will be capable of producing surimi, fillets, fillet and mince block, fish meal and fish oil, from a range of species including orange roughy, hoki, oreo dory, squid, pollock and cod.