Alness company on landing Mowi contract and being asked to build bulletproof boats
An Alness company has been awarded a large contract to build vessels for Mowi.
North Coast Work Boats was established in 2018, by Julian Bainbridge an experienced boatbuilder and craftsman, and, David Skea owner of Leco Marine, an aqua-culture service company.
Two years ago they took on Graham Campbell in the sales department and now have a team of eight full-time staff.
The company put in the tender with salmon-fishing giant Mowi in November and was delighted to have been awarded the contract for a fleet of six vessels.
Mr Campbell said: “Mowi is one of the biggest agricultural companies and workboat regulations were changed last year, so lots of their boats were not up to the new standards.
“They put out a tender and there were quite a few major players but we won that tender!
“We’re supplying six fully kitted out boats for them with outboards and safety equipment which will be ready for June.
“Two are going to Ullapool, two south of Fort William and two to the Western Isles.
“If they like the boats then we expect a big order as they will needing 100 to 120 boats over the next three years. If we got the order our business would be doubling in size.”
Norway is normally the big contender when supplying vessels of this type, so North Coast Work Boats is very proud to bring the business to the north of Scotland.
Not only will it benefit their business, but other local suppliers will too.
Mr Bainbridge said: “It’s all branching out to local companies and we are taking them with us including David at Cameron Carriers and Aiden and his team at Lochaber Stainless.
“The people at Mowi are impacting other people’s lives by investing in our company and others in the area.”
North Coast Work Boats has also made vessels for Loch Duar and for decommissioning at Kishorn Port.
But, the most interesting request the business has had? To build a bulletproof boat for the Pakistani government. However, there was too much liability involved so they decided against it.
