Source: Mer Et Marine
The Vietnamese SEAS Shipyards, a subsidiary of the French group Piriou, is completing delivery of two new purse seiners for the fishing company SAPMER, based in La Reunion.
SAPMER’s tuna purse fleet, which fishes in the Indian Ocean, currently consists of three purse seiners that the company acquired in 2009 and 2010, the ‘Franche Terre’ (built in Concarneau) and the ‘Manapany’ and the ‘Bernice’ (both built in Vietnam).
Tuna purse seiner ‘Franche Terre’
As of this summer, SAPMER will have acquired two new vessels of the same design. The 90 meters long and 14.5 meters wide new seiners will be equipped with freezing technology that enables them to freeze on board and store their tuna catches at minus 40 degrees Celcius, as their sister ships.
SAPMER’s first new purse seiner is the ‘Dolomieu’, scheduled to be delivered on March 30th. Then it will sail to La Reunion to complete its crew and prepare for its first fishing campaign. The delivery of the second purse seiner is expected to take place on August 30th. All five vessels will carry the French flag.
“The arrival of these new tuna purse seiners strengthens SAPMER’s position in a market with great potential and represents a new strategic plan for growth,†according to the fishing company.
To meet its increasing tuna operations, SAPMER significantly expanded its -40 °C cold storage facilities in Mauritius by 900 metric tons, bringing it to a total of 3,600 metric tons capacity. The expansion was operational as of October 2011.
Also the processing plant Mer des Mascarene has seen a rapid production growth with a capacity now to produce 9,000 tons per year.
