Afloat with aquaculture
New wave of vessels needed to keep up with changes in the industry
ACRITICAL need for workboats on Scotland’s aquaculture sites is bringing a welcome boost to the Scottish boatbuilding industry, but it still needs to do more to woo fish farmers away from shipyards overseas. Designing and building workboats for Scottish salmon farms presents a very lucrative market. Fish farms rely on a network of workboats, such as live fish carriers, tugboats, feed barges, crew transfer vessels, pontoon boats, platform supply vessels, dredgers, and other types of utility craft.
A new wave of vessels are also needed to keep up with changes in the industry, for example the move from chemical to mechanical sea lice removal, such as Hydrolicers and Thermolicers.
In most cases, workboats are the only access to offshore fish farms located in remote areas. It is therefore no surprise that workboats account for roughly 20 per cent of the total cost of aquaculture.
Mowi, for example, Scotland’s largest salmon farming company, runs up to 50 workboats in its fleet, with around 20 per cent chartered on long-term deals, and two or three other small vessels for ad hoc works throughout the year.
At any one time, there is on average one workboat in use per site, rising to three or four vessels when other works are required.
The most common types of workboat are landing craft or multicat hulls, but any vessel with open deck, a crane and capstans are useful, and can also double up as treatment boats, which are hard to find on the open market.
The company needs to build bigger vessels to cope with the growth in average pen and farm size, but can use its older and smaller vessels as dedicated net washing boats.
Currently, Mowi has three workboats in construction, two have been recently delivered, and another three are ordered for 2020.
Some of this industry demand feeds down to Scottish boatbuilders, such as Flugga Boats, a small family business on the Isle of Unst, Shetland.
Its team, who grew up and worked in Shetland, realised standard workboats weren’t always best placed in the ever changing weather around its coast. So they came up with ‘a solution that could benefit Shetland’s workers without the constant need for maintenance and
replacement,’ the company’s website explains.
‘Built in Shetland and designed to withstand the harshest sea conditions that surround the isles, Flugga Boats utilise an HDPE collar and aluminium materials for strength, low maintenance and a long-life hull.’
The rigid hulled inflatable boats ‘have all of the advantages of a rib, just harder’, the firm says. They are used as police and dive boats, as well as salmon workboats.
Currently, all of Flugga’s boatbuilding contracts are for the aquaculture industry: six vessels for Grieg Seafoods based in Lerwick, each 8.5m long with a four-man cabin, and due to be delivered this year.
Flugga Boats is expanding due to the increased orders from fish farms, said managing director Jack Barclay.
‘Boatbuilding in Shetland has always been on the smaller side of the market. This is largely due to the weather requiring boats to be built under cover, especially during winter months. Recent work has now led us to try and increase the workforce to cope with demand.
‘We are somewhat isolated, up here in Shetland, from the mainstream markets of the mainland. This has drawbacks, but also a positive side to it.
‘It means we have to work things out for ourselves and this leads to innovation. We are also keen to try new ideas and products.’
Barclay added: ‘The new boats we are building are powered by the new OXE diesel outboards, and we have been to Sweden to train on the maintenance of these units.
‘They are innovative and fuel efficient, reducing emissions and adding another level of safety to the power plants. They fit well with the Flugga boat as the builds and component parts are always selected with environmental efficiency in mind.’
It’s been a good year too for Gael Force Boatbuilding in Corpach. Soon after the Gael Force Group bought the Corpach Boatbuilding Company in 2018, the new company won a contract to build its first steel barge for a Scottish fish farm.
Gael Force Group has a concrete barge building facility in Inverness but, in a bid to develop its boatbuilding business in Corpach, also offers ‘an innovative, competitive home built substitute to imported steel barges’ with capacities up to 750 tonnes.
Currently, many competing steel feed barges are manufactured outside the UK in Eastern Europe.
Marc Wilson, Gael Force’s group marketing manager, said: ‘Gael Force Boatbuilding has progressed exceptionally well over the past 12 months.
We have to work things out for ourselves and this leads to innovation”
‘When the boatbuilding business in Corpach joined the group in 2018, we set out to introduce steel barge building to the west coast of Scotland.
‘Last year, that ambition was realised and in the autumn we saw the milestone build and launch of our first 200T SeaFeed steel barge from Corpach, delivered to Scottish Sea Farms at Lober Rock in Orkney.
‘This was a momentous and proud occasion for the team at Corpach who had worked diligently to deliver on the project.
‘This feed barge has a nominal 200 tonne feed capacity and features a four-line SeaFeed feeding system, synchronised generator set, and 15 tm crane. It was also designed with a high wheelhouse to provide the operator with a good viewing platform and panoramic views of the farm.
‘On the back of this build we have generated a significant amount of interest in our steel barge range and have had several lines of enquiry to follow up on.
Employee numbers
‘Our employee numbers at the boatyard have increased to 25 and we expect to continue to increase further this year.
‘Over the past 12 months we have also been investing in an improved infrastructure, both in plant and building equipment, in order to create a more efficient production line.
‘In the future, we have plans to introduce a larger capacity slipway to enable the maintenance and refurbishment of larger boats.
‘We continue to have a steady stream of workboat repairs and maintenance coming through Gael Force Boatbuilding – this includes a mix of aquaculture and commercial vessels.’
On the east coast, Aberdeenshire naval architects Macduff Ship Design has also had a surge in orders from Scottish fish farms.
Macduff Ship Design has been working on vessel design for the aquaculture industry since 1993. Its 6m to 50m designs are seen across the world in numerous forms: workboats, tugs, fishing vessels, ferries, pilot boats, patrol boats, dredgers, research vessels and multipurpose vessels.
Many of the existing fleet has started to become too small to operate successfully”
More than 200 vessels are in operation to Macduff Designs in all corners of the world, said the company.
Macduff Ship Design’s managing director, Ian Ellis, said: ‘We have seen a steady increase in demand for workboats from the aquaculture industry.
‘There has been an increase in farm sizes, which has meant many of the existing fleet has started to become too small to operate successfully within these new requirements.
‘There has also been a tightening of regulation within the statutory survey, and this has had the knock-on effect of reducing both cargo and crane capacity on many older vessels, which is leading to a need for new replacements, often with an increased capability.
‘The new fish treatment and handling techniques have led to an increased requirement for larger vessels designed specifically to operate within both the treatment and harvesting sectors of the industry.’
Macduff reported ‘an exciting and diverse order book’, including the design of five new workboats for fish farms.
A 37m fish harvest and transport vessel is being constructed by Shipbuilding Asia in Vietnam for Cooke Aquaculture, and two catamaran workboats, 18.5m and 14m in length, are designed for various sites in Scotland.
The 14m catamaran design is a repeat build for Scottish Sea Farms following on from her sister ships, Julie Anne, Kiera May and Lily Mae.
Fanfare
The greatest fanfare, however, heralded two fully Scottish vessels, designed by Macduff Ship Design in Macduff, built by Ferguson Marine on the River Clyde, and owned by Inverlussa Marine Services on the Isle
of Mull. The first, the 21m, 100t landing craft Helen Rice- launched into the Clyde in January, was the first vessel to be completed since the Port Glasgow shipyard Ferguson Marine Engineering was taken into public ownership in December 2019.
The Helen Rice, suited to carry out general fish farm service duties, was designed with a deck layout for mooring work, but is also capable of carrying 90t of deck cargo with a capacity for three 20ft containers.
Work on the larger 26m vessel is scheduled to be completed during summer 2020. It is designed to carry out thermolicing within a fully enclosed deck, allowing work to continue safely in challenging weather conditions.
The then finance secretary Derek Mackay, who attended the Helen Rice’s naming ceremony, said: ‘This is a Scottish built vessel, provided to a Scottish customer and serving the needs of the Scottish aquaculture industry.
We anticipate that new treatment and processing methods will stimulate additional opportunities”
‘It is hugely encouraging that the yard has been able to support our island economies in this way.’
Inverlussa Marine Services’ managing director, Ben Wilson, said: ‘We were delighted to build this vessel in Scotland.
‘I would like to thank Ferguson Marine and their workforce for delivering such a well-crafted vessel.
‘The delivery of this vessel continues our strategy of investing in the best vessels and crew.’
Fergusson Marine Engineering went into administration in December last year following a dispute with Caledonian Maritime Assets
Ltd- which buys and leases CalMac ships on behalf of the Scottish government- over the construction of two ferries under a £97 million fixed price contract.
A Scottish government spokesperson said: ‘Following administration, contracts for both Inverlussa vessels have been novated across to Ferguson Marine (Port Glasgow) Ltd [as the yard is now named] with agreement from the customer.
‘The Scottish government remains committed to the completion of vessels, securing jobs, and to working towards a bright future for shipbuilding at the site.’
For all the celebration of a fully Scottish work
boat, and a surge in orders for Scottish boatbuilders and designers, there remains a big challenge for them, namely to woo business from shipyards abroad.
One major aquaculture firm said: ‘We do not have any vessels being built in Scotland, as the design package and price do not match the value and quality from other yards abroad. We would purchase in Scotland if [that] was addressed.’
One European competitor, the Dutch shipyard Damen, has delivered three vessels to the sector in the UK so far, with a fourth anticipated later this year.
Damen’s communications advisor Ben Littler said: ‘We have delivered two Damen Multi Cats to Scot Marine (in Orkney) and to Johnson Marine (in Shetland), as well as the design of a Landing Utility Vessel 1608 to Exeter Fabrications.
‘We are talking to numerous companies in Scotland about future opportunities. T
‘he fourth delivery, a stock built LUV 1908, is likely to be delivered in the region in quarter three this year. We see potential also for our Utility Vessels 4312 and 2613.
‘We are just getting started in this sector and we build ships for all sectors of the maritime industry, all over the world, so currently, as a percentage, aquaculture is relatively low, but we see a lot of potential in the market and are confident in the – proven – designs that we are offering, so anticipate an increase.
‘Demand for vessels is definitely growing – particularly in the sheltered waters to be found on the Scottish west coast.
‘We anticipate that new treatment and processing methods will stimulate additional opportunities.
‘What we anticipate is that the aquaculture sector, like other sectors of the maritime industry, will benefit from Damen’s practice of building standardised vessels in series – for stock.
‘What this means for operators is fast access to proven, reliable equipment.
‘We believe we have a strong offer for aquaculture as it continues to grow in global importance.’