{"id":1899,"date":"2021-03-16T02:01:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-16T02:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hihotest2.co.nz\/sealord\/?p=1899"},"modified":"2025-04-22T04:35:20","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T04:35:20","slug":"new-fishing-vessel-boosts-jobs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hihotest2.co.nz\/sealord\/2021\/03\/16\/new-fishing-vessel-boosts-jobs\/","title":{"rendered":"New $6 Million Fishing Vessel Boosts Jobs in Nelson and West Coast"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Credit: Stuff NZ<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

A $6 million longline fishing vessel will be built in Nelson and is set to create new jobs for the West Coast fishing industry.<\/p>\n\n

The 26-metre vessel Te Runanga will provide up to 25 new jobs on the West Coast, and more during its construction Nelson.<\/p>\n\n

Designed by marine architects Oceantech NZ and built by Nelson-based Aimex Service Group \u2013 which recently completed Nelson Coastguard\u2019s new $1.4m Sealord Rescue Vessel \u2013 it will be one of only two longliners built in New Zealand and the biggest by nearly 10m.<\/p><\/div><\/div>

Aimex general manager Steve Sullivan said the new build would be two metres larger in terms of displacement than the FV Santy Maria, completed in 2016<\/a>, making it the company\u2019s biggest build from that perspective, although not the longest.<\/p>

He said the chance to build Te Runanga was \u201cmassive\u201d for the company.<\/p>

Te Runanga would be 2m longer than Westfleet\u2019s other two longliners, and crucially its fish hold would be almost twice as large, with a 110 cubic metre capacity.<\/p>

Westfleet is jointly owned by Sealord and managing director Craig Boote, a proud Coaster who first went to sea as a 14-year-old and was a skipper by 18, before purchasing Westfleet in 2006.<\/p>

Taking its name from the West Coast town in which Boote grew up, Westfleet\u2019s sixth boat would be based at Greymouth and was expected to be sea ready by mid-2022.<\/p>

With a crew of up to eight, it would in effect create about 25 full-time jobs collectively with the additional fish it brought to the factory.<\/p>

It would also be built strong enough to go into the Southern Ocean around the Bounties.<\/p>

\u201cSome might think it\u2019ll be too small to venture there but this boat\u2019s built like a tank,\u201d Boote said.<\/p>

The greater size would enable the catch \u2013 the target species being ling \u2013 to be stored on ice in 660-litre insulated containers at sea, reducing handling during unloading at Greymouth.<\/p>

Sealord chief executive and Westfleet director Doug Paulin said the new vessel made good commercial sense because it was better equipped than the older longliners for rougher weather.<\/p>

Paulin said the level of investment made by Westfleet was testament to Boote\u2019s belief in the West Coast fishery and would also be beneficial for the long-term future of the region.<\/p>

Boote said special consideration had been given to the crew\u2019s working and living conditions to prioritise staff well-being.<\/p>

\u201cWe\u2019ve designed it with the living areas on the top level with 360-degree views, and alongside the wheelhouse to promote more engagement between the skipper and crew.\u201d<\/p>

Each bunk, below deck, would also have its own screen with wi-fi.<\/p>

\u201cI\u2019ve tried to design it so that when the crew \u2018go home\u2019 to their accommodation at night it\u2019s like going into an upmarket townhouse,\u201d Boote said.<\/p>

To help avoid bird encounters, the company was also trialling a laser system as well as the baffler system tried and tested on its other boats.<\/p>

New $6 million fishing vessel boosts jobs in Nelson and West Coast | Stuff.co.nz<\/a><\/p>

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Credit: Stuff NZ A $6 million longline fishing vessel will be built in Nelson and is set to create new jobs for the West Coast fishing industry. The 26-metre vessel Te Runanga will provide up to 25 new jobs on the West Coast, and more during its construction Nelson. Designed by marine architects Oceantech NZ […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1900,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hihotest2.co.nz\/sealord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hihotest2.co.nz\/sealord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hihotest2.co.nz\/sealord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hihotest2.co.nz\/sealord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hihotest2.co.nz\/sealord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1899"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/hihotest2.co.nz\/sealord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2964,"href":"https:\/\/hihotest2.co.nz\/sealord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1899\/revisions\/2964"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hihotest2.co.nz\/sealord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hihotest2.co.nz\/sealord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hihotest2.co.nz\/sealord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hihotest2.co.nz\/sealord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}