The ECOFIVE trawler – a nominee for the Ship of the Year 2023 Award
The factory trawler ECOFIVE is one of the nominees for the 'Ship of the Year 2023' Award. The nomination committee states that 'This project is one of the most exciting developments done in fisheries in the last 30 years, with fuel savings of up to 40% and high quality of the catch'.
Voting is now open, and you can place your vote via this link to an article (in Norwegian) with the voting scheme at the end: Ship of The Year 2023 - Her er de nominerte (skipsrevyen.no)
Statement from the nomination committee
The nomination committee further states that 'MS ECOFIVE will have hybrid diesel-electric and diesel-mechanical propulsion with two propellers and rudder nozzles. Based on the ship's operational profile, the propulsion system and system integration will enable fuel savings of more than 25% per kg of fish product produced compared to a conventional power system. In some operations, together with other energy-saving measures, the figure can reach 40% fuel savings. The emissions of greenhouse gases are reduced.
The catch will be transferred alive below the waterline to water tanks on board before bleeding and transferral in portions to the factory plant. Finished fish products are frozen at minus 35 degrees Celsius in advanced freezers.'
Several innovations add up to this vessel
ECOFIVE is a standard from Bluewild and sets ambitious requirements for the lowest possible energy consumption, the greatest possible utilization of the catch, extraction of nutritional value and the highest possible quality of the end product. To facilitate the goals of ECOFIVE, Ulstein has developed concrete solutions for a new standard in factory trawlers.
Ulstein has developed a system for catch reception and storage that will, as far as possible, keep the catch alive until processing. By taking the catch directly from the sea and into separate tanks, the loss of quality during hauling and storage in dry receiving bins will be avoided, and the factory can work more steadily at its optimum capacity.
The hybrid power and propulsion system, which combines the best features of diesel-electric and diesel-mechanical propulsion, is supported by a large battery pack. Two large propellers with rudder nozzles increase manoeuvrability and towing power and help to minimise energy loss at rudder angles. Surplus energy, such as the return energy from the winches, will be stored in the battery pack and excess heat from the engines will be recovered and used where desired elsewhere in the ship.
The X-BOW® hull design will contribute to less abrupt movements, improve safety and minimise sea on deck.
About the vessel
The stern trawler is of the design type ULSTEIN FX101 and is equipped for 30 people. The 73.2-metre-long ship has a net cargo space of approx. 2,000 cubic metres and is equipped with quadruple trawl and pelagic trawl.
Ulstein delivers design and engineering, and an equipment package for the power system. This package includes generators, electric motors for propulsion including converters, a complete battery system, switchboards and distribution, and control systems for power management and energy management. All are controlled and supervised by the automation system ULSTEIN IAS with data collection to the cloud via Blue Box.
The shipowner Bluewild is based in Ålesund. The shipowner’s fleet consists of the trawler ‘Ishavet’ (built 2013), and the trawler ‘Langenes’ (built 1986), which will be replaced by the new trawler.
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