A BOAT manufacturing firm from Ross and Cromarty has been awarded a large contract to build vessels for Mowi.
North Coast Work Boats put in the tender with the salmon-fishing giant in November and announced they have been awarded the contract for a fleet of six vessels.
The Alness firm will supply the six fully kitted out workboats by June this year with two going to Ullapool, two going south of Fort William and another two going to the Western Isles.
North Coast Work Boats was founded in 2018 by Julian Bainbridge, an experienced boat builder and craftsman, along with the owner of the aqua-culture service company Leco Marine, David Skea.
Since its inception the firm has grown to a team of eight full-time staff and are hoping to fulfill more orders from Mowi as the firm said the company are looking to buy around 120 vessels over the next three years.
Graham Campbell, who works in the firm's sales department, the Alness business was able to come out on top with the contract despite a “few major players” also showing interest.
Norway is typically a big contender for winning contracts for supplying vessels to the fish farming industry so North Coast Work Boats were happy to bring the business to Scotland, the Ross-shire Journal reported.
“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,” Campbell said.
“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.”
Bainbridge added: “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.”
