30 October, 2016 by Juan Carlos Díaz Lorenzo

“Sierra Grana” (1978-2005)

Every so often, the refrigerated ship “Lian Run”, registered in Panama, docks at the port of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. It operates the service of the Chinese fleet that fishes in the waters of Mauritania and Guinea Conakry, transshipping at sea the catches from the fishing vessels moored alongside, which it later unloads at its operational base.

The ship we are discussing today is an old acquaintance. It is the former “Sierra Grana”, the first of a series of five units of type G built on behalf of Marítima del Norte, one of the best shipping companies Spain has ever had. Directed from its inception in 1957 by Jesús de Sendagorta Aramburu and later by his sons Javier and Íñigo de Sendagorta Gómez del Campillo along with a group of expert collaborators –among them Captain Manuel Álvarez de Linera–, the company sold its fleet and its business assets in May 2008 to the Dutch company Seatrade, thus closing a successful business chapter lasting half a century.

In the mid-1970s, the business of this company had grown to such an extent that a fleet renewal was considered. The project was entrusted to the naval engineering firm Sener, owned by a branch of the Sendagorta surname related to the family owning Marítima del Norte, and resulted in the construction of five new ships, named “Sierra Grana”, “Sierra Granera”, “Sierra Guadarrama”, “Sierra Gredos”, and “Sierra Guadalupe”.

The workload was distributed among the shipyards Marítima del Musel in Gijón, one ship; Marítima de Axpe in Bilbao, two ships; and Enrique Lorenzo y Cía. in Vigo, two ships. All of them were operational between August 1978 and January 1979. At that time, Marítima del Norte covered traffic between points in the Indian Ocean, South Africa, Namibia, Angola, Senegal, Chile, Argentina, Spain, and Europe.

When they entered service, they were ships of 1,225 gross tons, 579 net tons, and 2,480 deadweight tons, with main dimensions of 86.64 m overall length –78.52 m length between perpendiculars–, 13.64 m beam, 7.32 m depth, and 4.90 m maximum draft. They were compartmentalized into four holds with a capacity of 3,370 cubic meters and equipped with three cranes. The propulsion engine is from the brand Deutz -manufactured, under license, in the workshops of Hijos de J. Barreras, in Vigo-, with a power of 2,600 horsepower and a speed of 13 knots.

Between 1987 and 1988, the five ships were lengthened by adding a new section of 14 m in length, which not only increased their refrigeration capacity but also allowed for the addition of a fuel tank for supplying fishing vessels at sea. When they were remeasured, the gross tonnage increased to 2,754 tons and the deadweight to 3,062 tons.

As for the ship “Sierra Grana”, it is the construction number 196 from the shipyard Marítima del Musel in Gijón and entered service in August 1978. Registered in the naval registry of the port where it was built, it remained so for several years until, after a brief stint in the naval registry of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, it was registered in Panama, like the entire existing fleet at that time, and registered in the name of Marítima del Norte Panamá, S.A. IMO Code 7624271.

Starting in 2004, with the five new ships of the L series active, Marítima del Norte began selling the older units. In July 2005, the “Sierra Grana” was sold to the company TREDEGAR, based in Vigo, and the ship was registered in Panama and renamed “Timanfaya”. In November 2006, it was acquired by the Chinese company Dalian Lian Run Pelagic Fisheries and has since sailed under the name “Lian Run”.