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Inside the UK’s largest whitefish trawler

By Louis Harkell and Dan Gibson | Published April 25, 2019

Undercurrent News attended the naming ceremony of the Kirkella, the UK's largest whitefish trawler vessel on April 24, 2019. The ceremonies -- which were held near Greenwich on the River Thames, London -- included a tour of the 80-meter-long giant. The vessel, which is owned by UK Fisheries, is a magnificent example of a modern factory trawler.

Photo credits: Louis Harkell & Dan Gibson/Undercurrent News

By Louis Harkell and Dan Gibson

Published April 25, 2019

Kirkella anchored in the Thames river, London, UK. Credit: Dan Gibson / Undercurrent News

Guests were transported to the Kirkella via a ferry from Greenwich pier.

As the ferry approached, the scale of the Kirkella quickly became evident. Credit: Louis Harkell / Undercurrent News

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The Kirkella has been built with extremely high sides, in order to handle the rough conditions of the Barents Sea, where it will fish primarily for cod.

No true naming ceremony would be complete without a brass band in attendance, and this was no exception.

Guests file onto the pontoon to await the beginning of the naming ceremonies.

A perfectly good, intact bottle of champagne. Hopefully nothing happens to it. Credit: Dan Gibson, Undercurrent News

On the pontoon, a champagne reception was held as attendees awaited the naming ceremony. Credit: Dan Gibson, Undercurrent News

Crew members of the Kirkella. The majority of the crew come from Hull, in the northeast of England, but also Poland, Russia and Portugal. Credit: Louis Harkell / Undercurrent News

"We forget, because they’re out of sight and out of mind, just how much effort goes into producing what we eat and enjoy. And this ship, this investment says a lot about that. So I say thank you to the owner for their investment in the future of UK fishing, and we wish her well." - Princess Anne. Credit: UK Fisheries

BBC camera crew present to capture the moment.

The view beneath the Cutty Sark, where attendees ate lunch. Credit: Dan Gibson, Undercurrent News

Underneath the 19th-century tea clipper Cutty Sark, where guests returned for lunch to enjoy free cod and chips.

Anton Van der Plas and Dirk Parlevliet, from UK Fisheries parent company P&P, were in attendance.

The Kirkella intends to land its fully-processed catches in Hull, from where they are transported to UK Fisheries cold storage facility in Grimsby. Credit: Dan Gibson, Undercurrent News

After lunch, attendees were invited onboard to explore every nook and cranny of the Kirkella. Credit: Dan Gibson, Undercurrent News

The Kirkella reportedly cost £52m to build and outfit, and was delivered from Norway's Kleven Shipyard in July 2018.

The view from the rear. Credit: Dan Gibson, Undercurrent News

The Kirkella's trawls - according to one crewmember, the vessel can catch as much as 40t of fish per haul. Its quickest haul of 20t supposedly took just eight minutes.

Another panel near the stern of the ship.

Inside the Kirkella's engine room. The engine pictured is the Rolls-Royce Bergen Engine, built in 2017.

The view from the Kirkella's bridge gives an idea of the sheer scale of the vessel.

This panel facing the stern is used to control fishing gear.

When presented with a mass of knobs and dials on the bridge, the urge to fiddle around is apparently universal.

The plush chair and array of high-tech gadgetry visible on the bridge is the Kirkella's crowning glory.

The array of four screens on the bridge can also be split into sixteen smaller ones. To the uninitiated, it makes no sense whatsoever.

The screen on the bridge of the Kirkella is, in fact, a mash-up of sixteen smaller ones. Credit: Dan Gibson, Undercurrent News.

The crew's quarters are sleek, modern, and well-furnished.

A final image of the vessel at sea, from the crews quarters.

Raw fish drop down shoots into the processing area (right of photo). There are three de-heading machines; mainly two machines are used at any one time but a third is used if there's more fish and it needs de-heading quicker. Two people work the machine. A third lines up the fish before de-heading and removes rocks or other debris hauled up with the catch.

Conveyors into the bleeding bins.

After de-heading, the fish will lie in bleeding bins for 20-30 minutes.

A conveyor then lifts the fish from the bleeding bins.

The fish then go to the filleting and skinning machines. The smaller machine to the front deals with small-sized fish; the larger one behind, larger fish. The machines also remove the skin.

Duane Bartlett, factory manager on board the Kirkella. Credit: Louis Harkell / Undercurrent News

Conveyor belts then transport the fillets to trimming workbenches (left of photo). Two workers man each bench.

A new Flexicut machine from Icelandic equipment manufacturer is used to remove the pin bone, do further re-cuts precisely sized portions.

The fillets then continue along the conveyor belt to a grading machine; fillets drop into different bins depending on weight.

A crew member demonstrates how fresh fillets are packaged.

Kirkella-branded packaging. Crew must mark the number and weight of the fillets on the box.

Another screen. This one is used to control what happens to boxes after packaging.

Yet another screen. This one for the 'fish hotel'.

Inside the fish hotel which stores boxes of fillets before they're piled onto pallets.

Behind this perspex glass a machine wraps pallets stacked with boxes in polythene wrapping before stowage.

The vessel's 'fish room'. The fish room is a cold storage area kept at minus 28 degrees Celsius during fishing with capacity for 700 metric tons of fish fillets.

The fish room has its own forklift trucks, which have to be tied down during rough seas.

Jane Sandell, CEO of UK Fisheries, in the mess aboard Kirkella. Credit: Louis Harkell / Undercurrent News

'You see the contrast between the Cutty Sark and the Kirkella in terms of sheer technology, but honestly the people who go to sea in her will be no different.' - Princess Anne

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