RONJA sisters

Mallaig developed as a fishing port following the extension westward from Fort William of the West Highland line of the North British Railway in 1901. Nowadays, although there are still a number of fishing vessels based at the port, it also acts as a base for some of the Norwegian live fish carriers, such as this pair, RONJA COMMANDER and RONJA VIKING. RONJA COMMANDER was built in 2003 by Aas Mek Verksted specifically for use in Scottish waters by Sølvtrans, her Norwegian owners. She has an overall length of 54.07 metres, and measures 1,021 gross tons. Her two well tanks can hold around 30,000 salmon in 940 metres³  of water, which are then pumped ashore at Mallaig and transported by road to Marine Harvest's processing plant at Fort William. RONJA VIKING is a slightly newer vessel, details of which can be seen here, and she is capable of holding slightly more fish as her tanks total 1,080 metres³.