Bellevue, Washington, U.S.A.-based Tri Marine Group has made two investments in its Pacific tuna operations.
Tri Marine has added two Maersk star loaders at Solomon Islands Ports Authority (SIPA) wharf in Noro, Solomon Islands. The company has also added a fifth pole-and-line vessel to the Solomon Islands flag fleet of its subsidiary National Fisheries Developments (NFD).
The star loaders consist of telescopic conveyor systems, which will enable the company’s purse seiners to load tuna directly into pre-cooled reefer containers, reducing unloading times and “preserving temperatures and quality at a lower cost than traditional transhipment operations,” the company said in a press release.
“The efficiency gains from the new equipment, supplied by Maersk Line, is expected to elevate Noro to become the preferred port for purse seiner transhipment operations in the region,” Tri Marine said.
The company’s previous method of shipment of its tuna products required it to send all of its catch to one destination market. The shift to container shipping will allow Tri Marine to divide its catch so that it sends certain species or sizes of tuna to markets where they will fetch a premium.
“Purse-seine owners will now be able to ship their catch to the most important markets, like Bangkok, at lower cost than by traditional means, such as reefer carriers,” Tri Marine COO Joe Hamby said.
The investment in the new loaders, as we as the new vessel, the Solomon Hunter, represents a “strategic investment in Noro as a key logistics hub in the Western Pacific,” as well as a commitment to the local tuna-fishing industry in the Solomon Islands, the company said in its release. Noro is also the home of SolTuna, the Solomon Islands’ only large-scale tuna processor – also owned by Tri Marine.
Solomon Hunter was purchased in Japan and Tri Marine is seeking to flag the vessel in the Solomon Islands. It will join NFD’s fleet of seven purse seiners and four other pole-and-line fishing vessels. The Solomon Islands catch from NFD’s purse seine and pole-and-line fleets is Marine Stewardship Council-certified.
“We’re thrilled to ad Solomon Hunter to our growing fleet of vessels,” NFD Managing Director Frank Wickham said. “As an organization, we feel that it’s important to continuously increase our catch in support of SolTuna’s needs for high quality raw material. We need to continue to grow in support of SolTuna.”
