Friday, January 4, 2013

Jensen Maritime Receives Vessel Design Award


Jensen Maritime, the Seattle-based, Crowley Maritime Corp.-owned naval architecture and marine engineering firm, has been honored with the New Wave Award, which recognizes the company for the concept and design of the Northern Leader, a 184-foot long, environmentally-friendly longline fishing vessel owned by Alaskan Leader Fisheries.

The New Wave Award is issued by National Fisherman and WorkBoat magazines during Seattle’s Pacific Marine Expo.

The Northern Leader will be one of the world’s largest commercial longline fishing vessels and is also the first Z-drive, diesel-electric fishing boat ever produced. Jensen has provided complete marine engineering services for the vessel, ranging from concept design to production engineering and even 3D fly-through modeling.

“We are proud of the innovation we’ve been able to infuse into the design of Northern Leader,” Jensen Vice President Johan Sperling said in a statement. “We know that commercial fishermen operate in some of the world’s harshest and most isolated environments, which can create extremely hazardous working conditions. To counteract the dangers and increase the comforts for the crew, we have designed a vessel that will keep them safe from harm, while capitalizing on the small seasonal window they have for harvesting their catch.”

The Northern Leader is currently under construction at J.M. Martinac Shipbuilding Corp., in Tacoma, Washington and is to be delivered to its homeport of Kodiak, Alaska, in April 2013.

The design of the 184-foot by 42-foot vessel allows for full utilization of the targeted fish species by using equipment with minimal environmental impact on the ocean’s ecosystem and a light operational fossil fuel footprint. The vessel will be used in the commercial, longline fisheries in the North Pacific, Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands.