The profile of some ships presents a question mark as to their exact employment. One such is Thorshovdi, recently seen at Punta Arenas, Chile. The hull would appear to be that of a small container ship but what about all that gear and superstructure, including a large reel on the stern? It turns out that Thorshovdi has two claims to fame: she is the world’s largest krill catcher and she is also Norway’s largest fishing vessel.
Converted out of the 1999-built Dutch container ship Vlieborg in 2009 by Lithuania’s UAB Vakaru Laivu Remontas, with finishing work by Norway’s Fiskerstrand Verft, Thorshovdi now measures 133.8m by 19.8m and has accommodation for over 50 crew and factory workers. Because of her employment off Antarctica, she has been given a double hull and is ice classed 1A (Finnish-Swedish). Owned by Norway’s Norwegian Krill Seaproducts AS, Thorshovdi is expected to catch around 100,000 tons of krill annually, with a daily catch of over 1,000 tons. Krill is becoming increasingly important commercially and, once processed, has a variety of uses.
