Zamakona returns for 2020 IceFish

Astilleros Zamakona has a strong reputation for the quality of the work it does for the fishing fleet operating off Western Africa, as the company's yard is Gran Canaria is key to carrying out repairs and maintenance for fishing vessels working in this part of the world.

The Bilbao yard is known for its long track records of building sophisticated ships, including some complex fishing vessels. Spanish fishing company Echebastar has built a series of tropical tuna purse seiners at Zamakona's Bilbao yard, the most recent, Aterpe Alai, delivered in 2019.

Also in 2019, Zamakona delivered pelagic vessel Adenia, one of the number of new pelagic trawlers that have joined the Shetland fleet in the last few years.

Now Astilleros Zamakona has a highly prestigious newbuild on its orderbooks, with the new Gitte Henning, designed by Salt Ship Design. This purse seiner/pelagic trawler is expected to set some new standards and incorporates a great deal of innovative technology, such as twin propellers, diesel-electric propulsion and permanent magnet winches.

Zamakona sees the Nordic region as an important market for the yard's expertise in building highly complex vessels.

"Iceland is a very important market for Zamakona. We see Icelandic fishing vessel owners as continuously planning for newbuildings, and their vessels are always provided with latest technology," said Luis Magro at Astilleros Zamakona.

"We participated in the 2017 IceFish exhibition, which was a very worthwhile event for us. It was very useful for us to meet shipowners, as well as shipbrokers and ship designers."