The environmentally friendly longliner Northern Leader was
launched Jan. 26 by JM Martinac Shipbuilding Corp. The 184-foot freezer
longliner – the largest fishing vessel currently under construction in the
United States -- launched at 5:30 AM from Martinac’s Tacoma shipyard.
The vessel, designed by Seattle-based Jensen Maritime
Consultants and owned by fishing company Alaskan Leader Fisheries, will be
homeported in Kodiak, Alaska.
The Northern Leader, which is designed
to hold more than 1,000 tons of cod fish, is operated by 31 people and can
deploy a long line over 45 miles.
The vessel will be used to support the longline fisheries of
the North Pacific, Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands. It’s powered with five
Caterpillar generators supplying two 1,000 kW Schottel Z drive electric motors.
The hold is refrigerated with 3, 150-HP compressors reducing the temperature
down as low as -25 degrees Fahrenheit.
The vessel is ABS classed for the Maltese Cross, A1 Fishing
Vessel with AMS. Total international tonnage is estimated at 1,800 ITC.
“The launch of the Northern Leader is another proud
step in the 89-year history of Martinac building ships and creating jobs in the
Puget Sound,” US Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) said. “I was proud to write and
spearhead the passage of Congressional legislation in 2010 that supported the
construction of the Northern Leader. We look forward to building more
state-of-the-art fishing vessels right here in Washington State and supporting
the growth of our maritime economy.”
Cantwell wrote legislation signed into law in December 2010
that created a cooperative for the freezer longline fishery. The cooperative
eliminates the race for fish and enables companies to harvest more value from
each catch, helping to increase profit by 20 percent and spur investment in new
fishing vessels with greater processing and storage capacity.
