Rolls Royce entering the Salmon Transporting Business

Fishing, specifically salmon farming, is at an all time high. However, the locations in which salmon are farmed are not contusive for placing a processing plant (1). Therefore, a way to transport live salmon so as for them not to lose their freshness before processing was a necessary invention. The solution came from Rolls Royce and their new tanker, the NVC 386, which was designed to be a floating aquarium basically. The water capacity of the tanker is 1/6 larger than that of an Olympic sized pool and can accommodate 442 tons of fish (1). In addition to the fish quarters, the tanker is also designed with the comfort of the crew in mind. The ship includes seven single cabins, a saloon, a fitness center, and a sauna (3).

The aquarium tanks onboard were designed with the fish in mind. Fish spoil fast, even when kept on ice, so the fish had to remain alive and swimming during transport (3). The amount of fish noted above allows the fish to be comfortable and have room to swim around. Monrad Hide, a Vice President at Rolls Royce, says that fish need to be comfortable, or else the quality of the resulting flesh suffers and much of the advantage of transporting them live disappears: “You don’t want to stress the fish, you want to have a very calm fish before you process it” (2). Also, throughout the tanker’s journey the tanker circulates, filters, and oxygenates water providing even more comfort to the fish (2).

In addition to the interior tanks Rolls Royce designed the tanker to be efficient in traveling as well. The shape of the ship and its engine allows less fuel to be used. The ship has a wave-piercing bow that allows to maintain speed and stability in rough seas while using less fuel for the diesel-electric propulsion system with two Bergen C6 engines (1). This new technology could be the kickstart to more programs like this, to transport not only fish but many different products. In the worlds of Rolls Royce president Anders Almestad this design will enter a new era in “quality, capacity, comfort and environmental considerations” (1).

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Source 1 – http://www.gizmag.com/roll-royce-fish-carrier-ship/29969/

Source 2 – http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-11-27/rolls-royce-builds-a-salmon-tanker

Source 3 – http://gizmodo.com/this-rolls-royce-tanker-is-a-school-bus-for-salmon-1472643045

 

Photo Found in Source 2

2 thoughts on “Rolls Royce entering the Salmon Transporting Business

  1. Richard

    How far are they taken and through what sort of waters. I ask because you can use a huge inflatable swimming pool for a fraction of the cost. Making it seaworthy even i a storm might be very hard

  2. Emily Slaman

    So cool! I never knew that you could have a floating aquarium just to transport fish- or that fish needed to be kept peaceful and de-stressed for optimum quality. Neat post.

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