Marco Delivers Caterpillar-Powered North Pacific Freezer Longliner

The latest addition to the Alaska fishing fleet is a new, longer version of Marco Shipyard's successful North Pacific freezer longliner design.

The 141-foot Lilli Ann, recently christened in Seattle, Wash., was designed and built by Marco for Deep Pacific Fishing Co. of Seattle.

The company operates the Deep Pacific, a freezer longliner converted by Marco prior to the new class of vessels now being built.

Before the Lilli Ann, Marco had built three 135-foot boats for Alaska F r o n t i e r Company (AFCO) of Edmonds, Wash. Their most recent vessel, the Frontier Explorer, joined the fleet in July. Although essentially the same design as the AFCO vessels, the Lilli Ann features a different arrangement plan and a refrigerated fish capacity of 848,000 pounds (385 MT) that is more than 40 percent larger.

Much of the capacity increase is due to the addition of a second hold forward on the main deck. Aft, the baiting station has been moved down to the main deck, with all accommodations and the galley/mess together on the upper deck and pilothouse levels.

Many of the refinements found in the Lilli Ann are the result of the very successful experience Deep Pacific has had with their first vessel since her conversion from an offshore supply ship in 1988.

With a length of 141 feet 4 inches overall, the Lilli Ann is longer t h a n the 130-foot Deep Pacific, and her frozen fish capacity is nearly double that of her fleet-mate. The Lilli Ann has a beam of 30 feet 10 inches and a depth of 14 feet 11 inches. She is powered by a Caterpillar 3512, rated at 1.175 bhp at 1,600 rpm, which drives a controllable-pitch, threeblade Berg propeller through a Reintjes reduction/reversing gear.

Like her predecessors, the Lilli Ann is equipped with Marco's highly successful MarcoMatic automated longlining system. The fully integrated system features extensive rack storage and the CircleMatic baiter. It is the world's only machine capable of automatically bait- ing full-circle circle hooks, which are the predominant choice of the North Pacific longline fishery.

In the process area, the Lilli Ann is outfitted with gutting, cleaning and packing tables by Carnitech and Ryan 214 heading machines.

The refrigeration system by Sabroe includes four 12-station horizontal plate freezers. With a crew of 26, the ship can process more than 50,000 pounds of headed-and-gutted fish per day.

"This vessel is the latest indication of how well-received our North Pacific freezer longliner concept has been," commented Marco Shipyard vice president Bob McMahon, "and we're proud of the record these boats are establishing in Alaska. Repeat orders from successful operators are the highest compliments you can get in this business, and we're honored by Deep Pacific's choice," he added.

With both builder's sea trials and crew fishing gear trials completed in Puget Sound, the Lilli Ann was fueled and provisioned and left for Dutch Harbor to begin her fishing career in late September.

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