At times when energy costs are increasing continuously ship owners are looking for ways to save energy. One thing worth considering is the choice between electric winches and hydraulic wire winches 
All fishing ships have winches that are used in different ways depending on the fishing gear in use. Power for these winches is produced by generators powered by the main engine, auxcillery engines or hydraulic wire winches (powered by the main engine and/or support engines).
Apart from the energy used to power the ship´s propeller gear these winches usually use the biggest part of the power needed on board.
As powerful winches are fundamental on board trawling ships their energy need is of big importance when it comes to energy use and energy savings and every % can yield a big difference.
Comparing trawlers with hydraulic wire winches and electric winches it is not unrealistic to estimate that the energy saving is about 30% when electric winches are used instead of hydraulic.
In big trawlers, fishing mainly pelagic fish, the saving has been estimated 150.000 – 200.000 EUROs a year. In smaller trawlers it is realistic to estimate the saving around 50.000 EUROs a year given 300 fishing days.
Naust Marine has specialized in designing and building control systems for electric winches on board trawlers. At the beginning of this year Naust Marine´s ATW system had been set up on board 80 ships all around the world, including ships based in the Faroe island, Russia, Canada, South-Africa, Argentina, Alaska and Greenland.
Naust Marine has also produced a system (AUTO-GEN) for energy reduction of generators. This system (now in use in app. 40 ships) makes it possible to increase the propulsion power of the ship by using the shaft generator as electric motor, increasing the propeller power. This opens the option of using a smaller main engine, using favorable power while fishing and increasing the power when necessary, for example when weather is bad .