January 17, 2012
Largest fish feed carrier heading for BioMar
MS H？？ydal, the world''s first gas-powered cargo vessel and largest operational fish feed carrier, is almost complete in an Istanbul shipyard.
The ship is named after one of the owners, Kristian H？？ydal from Myre, Norway. He is Managing Director of the NSK Shipping AS. The other owner is Kjartan Karlsen from Myre, who was one of the founders of the North Norwegian Ship Konsult.
The MS H？？ydal will have a cargo capacity of 2,200 tonnes of feed and will be the world''s first liquefied natural gas (LNG)-powered coaster, reducing emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) by more than 90%.
The vessel should be ready to load its first cargo from fish feed giant BioMar''s factories in Norway on May 1.
A BioMar spokesman said: "The Norwegian fish farming industry is growing and in 2011 output reached approximately one million tonnes of fish, largely salmon and trout."
BioMarsupplies this industry with feed and in 2011 the company had a market share of 25% of the overall fish feed market of 1.5 million tonnes.
The distribution of fish feed makes up an important part of the product. Distribution along the Norwegian coast is largely by ship.
Shipowner NSK Shipping is one of BioMar''s key collaborators in this field. Since 2009, BioMar worked with ship designers NSK Design on the development of a more environmentally friendly vessel for transporting fish feed.
The aim throughout has been to reduce the environmental impact associated with fish feed distribution.
"The fruits of this work will now soon be harvested with the completion at the Tersan shipyard in Istanbul of the MS H？？ydal," the spokesman said.
The project has received support from the NOx Fund, which is the product of an agreement between Norwegian business and industry and the Norwegian Ministry of the Environment aimed at reducing the country''s emissions of nitrogen oxides.