On 6 June 2023 Bluewild, Ulstein Design & Solutions AS and Westcon were awarded ‘Ship of the Year 2023’ for the factory trawler ECOFIVE. The jury stated that the ship solution offers ground-breaking technology with several innovations for a greener fishing fleet.
It is the first time that a fishing vessel has received this award. At the award ceremony at the Nor-Shipping exhibition, the Minister of Fisheries and Ocean Policy, Bjørnar Skjæran, announced the winners. The ‘Ship of the Year 2023’ goes to a vessel that offers revolutionary technology.
The vessel is fitted with a hybrid propulsion system where the battery system has a capacity of 1,130kWh. In addition to several energy efficiency measures, this will collectively provide at least a 25 per cent reduction in fuel consumption and emissions compared to a corresponding modern vessel of this type.
The savings can be up to 40 per cent for some operations. The twin propulsion system with rudder nozzles is the most significant single area for energy efficiency. This alone reduces energy consumption by 15 per cent compared to conventional vessels of the same type.
The catch technology needs to take care of the raw material from the catch to the finished product, and the ship offers gentle trawling and boarding where the catch will flow in below the waterline, live storage of the catch in waterfilled tanks at the reception system and processing of multiple products.
The shipowner and ship designers have used the technology in fish carriers and land-based facilities and merged this into a complete design package for onboard production.
This year’s winner is ECOFIVE, and the name comes from the working title of the project, ‘Eco-friendly-fishing-vessel’. It is an environmentally friendly vessel concept where many elements can easily be used on other vessels and thus make the fishing fleet greener.
This concept is a big step in a more resource-friendly direction in a time where sustainable harvesting from the sea will come even more into focus in the future.
