wavemaster ac850 panorama

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SUP P L EMENT

S U P P L E M

E N T

FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY

FEED BARGE The AKVA group automatic feed barge

The Wavemaster AC850 Panorama



by Peter Parker, International Aquafeed Magazine

WAVEMASTER

AC850PANORAMAThe AKVA group automatic feed barge

The International Aquafeed team take a tour of the

AKVA Group’s technology titan - designed to distribute

850 tonnes of salmon feed - the AKVA group automatic

feed barge, Wavemaster AC850 Panorama

002 | INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED | Fish Farming Technology




On the final day of the AquaNor 2015 exhibition, my

colleagues Darren Parris, Tom Blacker and I had the

pleasure of being shown through AKVA Group’s

technology titan, the AKVA group automatic feed

barge, Wavemaster AC850 Panorama.

It is the world’s largest steel feed barge with the storage potential of

850 tonnes of salmon feed and 12 parallel feed lines. The second one

of its kind, this feed barge has been sold to Marine Harvest, one of the

world’s largest fish farming companies.

It is intended to be put into operation in Fosen, Mid Norway, and

serve the site with up to 7200 tonnes of salmon. We met with AKVA

Group department manager, Andres Lara at the busy Skansen wharf

only five minutes walk from the event.

Welcoming loungeAfter crossing the plank onto the barge, we were welcomed into

what we were told is usually the control room but, in the case of

this barge, was something of a lounge. There were three large black

couches, each with the sleek AKVA group logo on; a Sony surround-

sound system installed and Projector TV on stand by. Indeed, initial firstimpressions suggested that this barge was going to be of a superior

quality.

Unique outfitThis particular barge will be positioned only one kilometer from

the coast, and so the few members of staff on board will travel to and

from work daily.

As a result, this barge was custom built to exclude accommodation

space, with the exception of basic fold out beds should dangerous

weather restrict leaving the barge. A typical AKVA group barge can

have up to five rooms, although this is not common for Norwegian

barges.

However, I suspect a ‘typical’ AKVA group barge does not exist, as

AKVA group aim to be as flexible as possible within realistic structural

and financial limitations, this is something they pride themselves on. For

example, this barge had heated floors in the lounge only, but should the

customer request it, heated floors can be installed on as many levels of

the barge as they like.

Flexible designFlexibility for customers seems to be the crux of AKVA group.

When we asked Mr Lara how long he suspected it would take for one

of these barges to be produced if we were to order one today, he

suggested around six months, with an additional three months if the

desired design was not already in existence.

Towards the end of the tour, Mr Lara made a humble but honest

comment; at AKVA group they are excellent at producing barges, but

at the end of the day it is the fish farmers who are out there working

day in day out, this is why they work so closely with customers in the

design process, because the customer really does know what is bestfor them.

Of course AKVA group do their best to cater for customers

requests but they need to be realistic, these barges float out there

exposed to the harsh elements of the ocean, therefore balance

and structure must always be considered. Positioning a barge is

a careful process, AKVA group do research on the weather in

the proposed location, the final direction in which the barge is

positioned is dependent on where the most challenging weather

comes from.

BOC is a leading end-to-end supplier to fish farms, offering:

gas supply, specialist oxygenation and control equipment,

installation and consulting services.

The BOC SOLVOX® rangeBetter conditions for fish, cost efficiencies forfish farmers.

Contact us

UK www.BOConline.co.uk/aquaculture, Tel 0800 111 333

IE www.BOConline.ie/aquaculture, Tel 1890 355 255

Key Benefits

→ Reduced feed conversion rate

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Fish Farming Technology | INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED | 003




Below: The Wavemaster AC850 Panorama is the world’s largest steel feedbarge with the storage potential of 850 tonnes of salmon feed and 12 parallel

feed lines.

"Judging by our

discussions with Mr Lara,

AKVA Group is growing;

the barges are growing in

size and capacity - withup to 20 currently being

delivered globally per

year"

Above: Peter Parker and Darren Parris from the InternationalAquafeed team, walk the steap gangway onto the deck of the

AC850 feed barge





Control roomAfter finishing our drinks and receiving a brief introduction on how

this barge compares to the other barges AKVA group has produced,

we went downstairs to the control room. My first impressions were

that it felt like walking into the cockpit of a space shuttle, after seeing

this I was beginning to understand how the day prior, the AKVA group

COO of export, Trond Severinsen had told us that with this set up,

it would be possible to operate the entire barge with just one highly

skilled technician on board. This particular control room had three

desks and seats, each with three large monitors and an additional wall

full of screens displaying all necessary information in real time.

Garage We made our way down to a room referred to as the garage. This

room had three memorable features, the first of which was a cupboard

where hot air from the blowers would pass through, Mr Lara said that

workers will store all of their wet clothing and boots here and they will

be completely dry within a few hours.

In this room we saw the first of many electronic tablets built into the

wall, these tablets were connected to the same AKVAconnect system

as the control room computers and would provide users with remote

access to much of the same information and controls.In the corner were manual levers and stopcocks, in the unlikely

event of a fire or other emergency; these devices enable a user to

manually shut off air or diesel flow. When I asked Mr Lara if these

shut offs could be controlled by a remote, he said that they do not

currently offer this feature but there is potential for it in the future.

There was also an emergency stop electronics box. Fire extinguishers

were located all around the barge, in addition to multiple 360 degree

turning cameras.

With emergency plans posted throughout and a range of safety

specific instruments, this barge seems well equipped in terms of safety.

Storage roomAs we travelled deeper into the barge we reached the storage

room, this barge has 16 integrated silos with the capacity to store 850

tonnes. 16 parallel feed lines are used in a ‘4 x Quattro system’ to

distribute feed to the cages, with a total feeding capacity of over 150

tonnes per day. Sometimes the feed travels up to 200 metres before it

is dispensed. This is achieved by using powerful air blowers.

Additionally, the blowers move air through cooling channels which

are in contact with water, this cooled air reaches regular steel material

pipes until they reach the silo cone where the doser is located, this

is done so the stainless pipes that transport the food are never over

heated.

Mr Lara gave us an astonishing fact at this point in the tour, even

with a storage capacity of 850 tonnes “all of the barge’s storage can be

depleted in as short as one week.” At which point a ship is required

to re-stock the barge.

One of the machines I thought was especially innovative were the

“cleaning plug injectors”, these devices were only introduced a yearago. When there is up to 850 tonnes of feed being air propelled

through the pipes each week, naturally build-ups of dust from feed can

occur. The cleaning plug injectors are cylindrical pieces of equipment

that contain buoyant balls which have a diameter the same as the feed

pipes into the lines. The balls are blown through the pipes and remove

dust in the process. The balls are then left waiting in the respective nets

to be fished out by workers and returned back into the plug injector.

EnsilageAfter the storage room we moved into a room decked out with

electric cabling and pneumatic tubes. In the centre of the room stood

what Mr Lara said could be understood in simple terms as a giant

blender. On average the daily mortality rate in the fish farms is around

2-3 percent. The dead fish are frequently collected from the bottom

of the net using the AKVAsmart Mort system and are then brought

back to this machine that breaks them down into slurry. Formic acid

is added to the mix in order to balance the pH of this protein rich

product that is then referred to and sold as ‘Ensilage’. On this particular

barge we were told that up to 60 tonnes of Ensilage can be stored at

any given time.

While this process might at first be perceived as distasteful to some,it is actually an innovative approach to reducing waste and ultimately

developing a more efficient system as a whole.

Engine roomMy impressions of the engine room were that it appeared to be

"A ‘typical’ barge does not exist - because

AKVA group aim to be as flexible as possible

with the customisation of each project"

It would be possible to operate the entire barge

from the control room with just one highly skilled

technician on board





tidy, compact, and safe but very noisy. The blowers and machines in

operation meant we were unable to hear each other.

In the proceeding conversation Mr Lara explained to us that in

some countries there is legislation around the maximum decibels

that can be emitted. In response to this AKVA group have noise

insulated the engine room to decrease the level of decibels around

the barge, additionally any blowers located outside of the engine

room are contained in noise enclosures to reduce the volume.

Although not applicable on this particular barge, accommodation

is also insulated.

Harmonic filters are installed onboard to protect the wider electri-

cal system of the barge from the harmonic effect, which is mainly

caused by the blowers.

On the deckTwo hours later we were at the end of our tour. On the deck of

the barge the quality of technology was just as high as everything else

that we had seen below deck. As is required on a feed barge there was

a crane, customers are given the option of enabling remote control use

of this and are given the option of where they would like to position

it on the deck.

There is a small veterinary laboratory situated on the deck that has

the facilities to function as a means for inspecting fish.Another point of interest was the bright yellow Feed selector valves

of the AKVAsmart CCS feed system. The AKVAsmart CCS has been

the world’s best selling feed system, for both land based and cage

operations for the past 30 years.

Final thoughtsThis AKVA group barge was produced for MarineHarvest, one of

the largest fish farming companies in the world. The complex compo-

nentry throughout was simplistically coded into four colours; red, yel-

low, grey, and green to catagorise their wide range of products. Judging

by our discussions with Mr Lara, AKVA Group is growing; the barges

are frequently growing in size and production, 20 of these barges are

delivered globally per year. It seems to me that flexibility, innovation

and open-mindedness are at the core of this company. Their barges

are truly bespoke.

Left to right: Peter Parker, Andres Lara (AKVA Group departmentmanager), Tom Blacker and Darren Parris (IAF team)





FORTALEZA - BRAZIL

NOV. 16-19, 2015

The World Aquacultu-re Society (WAS) has decided to hold

the Annual Latin American & Caribbean Chapter,

WAS meeting (Lacqua 2015) and the first Regional World

Aquaculture 2015 (RWA’15) in Fortalez a, Brazil. The Associação

Brasileira de Criadores de Camarão (ABCC) has decided to workwith WAS/LACC to join LACQUA15/RWA’15 with FENACAM ‘15 in-

cluding the XII International Shrimp Farming Symposium and the VIII

International Aquaculture Symposium.

Fortaleza, Brazil

More info on

www.was.org

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