The 73m fishing trawler has a new name — KNW 907 — and was bound for Port Lyttelton, where it was expected to go into dry dock for sandblasting and repainting during the next few weeks.
The vessel was expected to arrive in Port Lyttelton yesterday.
KNW 907 was recently bought from the High Court by Christchurch company KNW Co Ltd and is being given a new lease on life.
Partnership director Phil Smith said the main engines, auxiliary motors, electronics, navigation equipment, onboard factory and accommodation had been refurbished and repaired in Dunedin.
Mr Smith would not say how much the overhaul would cost.
The vessel is being reflagged to the New Zealand flag and is expected to be returned to seaworthiness by the end of this year.
Mr Smith said the bottom trawler would catch fish for the Northland Deepwater Ltd Partnership in the New Zealand exclusive economic zone.
It is expected to leave Port Lyttelton on December 3 and its main ports will be Bluff, Dunedin and Timaru.
Formerly owned by a string of Korean fishing companies, the vessel has been embroiled in controversy in the past.
In 2008, its captain pleaded guilty to and was convicted of illegal fishing, after catching fish in one area but reporting them as caught elsewhere. In late 2011 and 2012, the vessel’s Indonesian crew claimed their wages had not been paid and the boat was held in Lyttelton under a High Court order. In 2015, the trawler was seized again, under a High Court order, by a creditor.
