Naust Marine Wins Huge Winch Order

Hradfrystihusid Gunnvor (HG) and Vinnslustodin (VSV) recently awarded Naust Marine contracts to provide a complete suite of electric winches for their newbuild trawlers. Naust will supply no less than 29 winches per vessel, including three trawl winches and three Gilsons; six sweepline, two outhaul, two codend, four backstrap, three retriever and two net-lifting winches are included as auxiliaries. In addition to these, there is an anchor winch, a net reel, and—not widely known outside Europe—two winches of the trix type. The trix winches allow for easier stowage of full trawls, convenient for storage under the wheelhouse. Naust Marine’s ATW (Automatic Trawl Winch) System provides a wide variety of automated functions for winch control, particularly from the wheelhouse, and Naust Marine’s in-house developed ESG Level Wind—electrically-driven and electronically synchronized—is integral to the trawl winches.

“The electric approach to trawling was never in question here, given the many advantages,” noted Helgi Kristjansson, Naust Marine’s Sales and Marketing Manager. “Two DC-powered trawl winches can produce 200 kW in regenerative power—during shooting alone--for other consumers aboard to use. With the advent of sophisticated shaft generators, the use of thyristor drives provides even greater opportunities for routing energy back into the trawler’s power system.” Thyristors have been key to all major Naust Marine contracts in recent years.

The trawl winches develop nominal line pull of 30 tons of line pull at 40 meters per minute bare drum, but can reach a maximum of 45 tons line pull. A vertically-mounted 210-kW DC motor powers each trawl winch. The winch drum holds 8640 ft. of 1¼” wire. The trawl winches support both bottom and mid-water trawling. The trio of trawl winches reflects a twin-rig fishery, whereby two trawl nets can be fished simultaneously and a redundant single winch for backup. The 55 KW-Gilson winches have 18 tons line pull bare drum, and are AC-powered, like the balance of the winch suite. The Gilson winches are in turn connected to retriever winches, for haul-back and keeping constant tension on the lines. Variable frequency is the recurring theme throughout the vessel, with variable-speed main engines being deemed most economical for the function. Naust will be installing many variable-frequency drives (VFDs), rectifiers, and other state-of-the-art electronics to allow all other consumers on the power grid aboard to handle variable speed. 

“We are honored to have been selected for the two contracts,” Kristjansson noted. “While we had worked for HG and VSV before, these contracts were fiercely competitive. We recognize that, in many ways, the HG-VSV builds could well set the pace for new trawler builds in the years to come.”

The HG-VSV order comes at a time when Naust is at the proverbial “top of its game” with the world’s trawl-fishing fleet, the company said. Were the HG-VSV contract not enough, HB Grandi awarded Naust an even larger order—for three more complete winch outfittings of three new trawlers—just a month after the HG-VSV order. Kristjansson, capturing the spirit of the season, reflected that “recent years have been prosperous for the Icelandic fishing industry. This provides ship owners with an opportunity to renew some of the older pelagic trawlers.”

The Skipasyn-designed trawlers are being built at Huanghai Shipyard, Rongcheng, China. The first delivery is due December 2015.