Solvtrans – Ronja Challenger
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OLVTRANS celebrated its 30th anniversary with the launch of its latest wellboat, the 70m Ronja Challenger, in Sandsoya in Norway, at the end of April. The global leader in its field, Solvtrans supplies wellboats to major fish farmers in Norway, Scotland, Canada, Chile and Australia. The Ronja Challenger has now arrived on the west coast of Scotland, under a fiveyear agreement with Marine Harvest. The boat’s naming ceremony - with Anita Halsebakk, the wife of
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Solvtrans founder and CEO Roger Halsebakk, as ‘godmother’ - marked the start of a weekend of celebrations for the company. Ronja Challenger is the 19th wellboat for the Alesund based company. Many of the boats are still in service around the world, and all are named ‘Ronja’, after Halsebakk’s son and daughter, Robin and Anja. The latest vessel has 1,800 m3 capacity with a sliding bulkhead and UV purification system and Solvtrans’ transverse circulation system. With freshwater re-use and filters that remove lice, installed on new Solvtrans boats since 2014, the Ronja Challenger will play a crucial role in combating AGD and sea lice. It is equipped for smolt transfer, grading, and harvesting, with a pressure loading and unloading pump. Solvtrans, which began by supplying wellboats to the Scottish market in 1996, pioneered closed valve technology in 1998, after the onslaught of ISA in Scotland. Roger Halsebakk has always enjoyed working with Scottish farmers, said his close collaborator over the years, Ian Armstrong, an experienced salmon farmer and processor. Solvtrans had already sent over the Ronja
Left: Roger Halsebakk (left), Bjorn Magne Aas of shipyard Aas Mek, and Anita Halsebakk (right). Above: Joining the Solvtrans fleet
www.fishfarmer-magazine.com
06/05/2016 15:52:19