For the first time in years, there are signs of life on Melilla 203, docked in Otago Harbour.
The 73m fishing trawler, formerly owned by a string of Korean fisheries companies, has been embroiled in controversy.
In 2008, its captain pleaded guilty and was convicted of illegal fishing, having caught fish in one area, but reported them as caught elsewhere.
Then, in late 2011 and 2012, the vessel's Indonesian crew claimed its wages had not been paid and the boat was held in Lyttelton, under a High Court order.
And in 2015, the trawler was seized again, under a High Court order, by a creditor.
The vessel was recently bought from the High Court by Christchurch company KNW Co Ltd, and is being given a new lease on life.
The vessel is expected to be returned to seaworthiness by the end of this year, and will catch fish for the Northland Deepwater Ltd Partnership.
Partnership director Phil Smith said the vessel would be renamed KNW 907, and was in the process of being reflagged to the New Zealand flag.
The vessel would be used for fishing in the New Zealand exclusive economic zone, he said.
''It's being refurbished as a fishing boat - a bottom trawler.
''It is expected to be completed by mid to late December, and its main ports will be Bluff, Dunedin and Timaru.''
Mr Smith would not say how much the overhaul would cost, but said the main engines and auxiliary motors were being refurbished, the factory inside would be replaced, onboard accommodation would be ''freshened up'', and the electronics and navigation equipment would be repaired.
Before going back to work, the vessel was expected to go into dry dock in Lyttelton, on November 17, for sandblasting and repainting.
