Yorkshire landing for one of UK’s biggest trawlers

ONE OF the country’s newest and biggest trawlers made its first landing in a Yorkshire port. Over a year it is expected Kirkella will supply 13m portions of cod and haddock to fish and chip shops in the UK. Earlier this month the trawler, which will fish in Hull’s traditional grounds off Norway, Greenland and northern Atlantic waters, landed into King George Dock. It is the first time a trawler has landed in the city, once one of the world’s biggest fishing ports, in a decade.

The vessel is owned by UK Fisheries Ltd, which grew out of local fishing firms Marrs and Boyd Line, and is part of “what remains of the UK’s distant water fleet”, said chief executive Jane Sandell.

The trawler is a floating factory, with the fish caught, processed and turned into fillets and frozen on board. The previous vessel landed into Grimsby, but needs deeper water, so is now coming into Hull.

Ms Sandell said: “This is number three in our fleet, and is the pride of the fleet. It is nice to have the vessel back landing (in the city) when she has been out in waters that our guys fought so hard to keep part of. Technologically she is far in advance of the other two and in terms of crew facilities she is far in advance. It is all up-to-date equipment, some of which hasn’t been used on fishing vessels before.”

Three-quarters of the 64 crew are from the UK, and of those most are from the Hull and Grimsby areas.

But the trawler supports many more jobs including in haulage and in the nation’s 10,500 fish and chip shops. It is estimated fish to small fish and chip shops provides revenue of £72m a year.