THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY IN ACTION

The circular economy in action – Aquaship selects the future solutions for live fish. Shipowner Aquaship puts circular economy into action through converting offshore vessels to state of the art wellboats and equipping them with sustainable solutions for live fish transport.

Norwegian shipowner Aquaship has selected technology supplier Cflow to deliver fish handling technology for two state of the art wellboats, ‘Grip Marine’ and ‘Grip Explorer’. Both are conversions from offshore industry PSVs to 3300 cbm wellboats.

“It is crucial for us to have the latest technology onboard. We have had a good cooperation with Cflow over decades and with Grip Marine and Grip Explorer we are taking it one step further. In addition we are reducing our environmental footprint through converting existing vessels instead of building from scratch.” says Nils Otterlei, COO of Aquaship.

The projects are a result of long term cooperation between Aquaship and Cflow, where competence and experience from both companies has been combined to reach solutions that improve live fish transport through more gentle fish handling.

Cflow designs and develops fish handling technology for wild catch and aquaculture.

“Close cooperation between ship owners, fish farmers and technology suppliers raise the bar for the wellboat industry”, explains Gunnar Hoff, CMO of Cflow. “Our cooperation with Aquaship put high demands on Cflow as a technology supplier and helps us to continuously reach for new heights. Grip Marine and Grip Explorer are tailor made projects where competence from technology, biology and operations is combined to create the future solutions for live fish, while minimizing the environmental footprint.”

Cflow is to deliver complete water treatment and fish handling systems for the vessels. The advanced control system monitors the fish handling operations onboard and builds data to continuously improve fish welfare and efficiency.

“Farmed salmon is the worlds most sustainable source of animal protein, and Cflow will take its share of the responsibility to reach the UN sustainable development goals”, says Stig Bjørkedal, CEO of Cflow. “The offshore industry has built high standard vessels according to strict regulations, with high reuse value. Through conversions such as these we can bring the competence and value created from the Norwegian oil adventure into the industry of tomorrow, aquaculture.”