SCOTTISH YARDS SECURE £4.4 MILLION SALMON SECTOR WORK

Scottish yards secure £4.4 million salmon sector work. One of Scotland’s leading salmon producers is investing a further £4.4 million in marine work to support jobs in the north-east and on the west coast.

Bakkafrost Scotland has placed a new £3.5 million contract with Macduff Shipyards in Aberdeenshire for a bespoke moorings and heavy site works vessel, while a further £0.9 million project will see a feed barge refurbished by Bute Boat Builders.

The new 21-metre by nine-metre vessel will be used for moorings work across Bakkafrost Scotland’s farms. It is due to be delivered in September 2027.The contract will help support around 250 jobs and more than 10 apprenticeships at Macduff Shipyards, as well as work across the wider north-east supply chain.

Bakkafrost Scotland said the investment would improve resilience across its marine operations and help build specialist skills within its workforce. The vessel has been designed for moorings work at farm sites, with specialist lifting and towing equipment and thrusters to help crews operate safely around pens.

A separate project on Bute will see a feed barge refurbished and returned to use by Bute Boat Builders. The work will involve cleaning out the barge, removing damaged equipment, and carrying out mechanical and electrical refurbishment before it is deployed at Bakkafrost Scotland’s Loch Fyne site. The project will also reuse equipment from a smaller barge being replaced, making practical use of existing assets while supporting skilled marine work on the island. Once completed, the barge will have a feed capacity of 300 tonnes and will be deployed at Bakkafrost Scotland’s Loch Fyne site.

Bakkafrost Scotland has already invested more than £11 million with Macduff Shipyards across a series of vessels, supporting skilled jobs and work throughout the north-east marine supply chain. The company also recently took delivery of a £1.2 million landing craft, Spirit of Bute, from Bute Boat Builders. The order took Bakkafrost Scotland’s investment in boatbuilding on Bute to around £7.2 million across seven vessels, helping sustain marine engineering work on the island.

Ian Laister, managing director at Bakkafrost Scotland, said:

“These latest projects are another significant investment in our marine operations and in the skilled businesses that support salmon farming around Scotland’s coast. The new vessel has been designed around the day-to-day needs of our farming operations and will strengthen our capability across farm sites for years to come. At the same time, the refurbishment work on Bute shows how existing assets can be repurposed and returned to service through the expertise that exists within Scotland’s marine sector. As a business rooted in coastal communities, it is important to us that we continue backing the people, yards, and supply chains that play such an important role in our operations.”

Image: Bakkafrost Scotland