As the expansion of Fraserburgh’s fishing harbour continues apace, a father-and-son north-east company has signed a contract for a new super trawler.
Mewstead LLP – which is run by father and sons George and Michael Tait of Fraserburgh and Alex and Zander West from Gardenstown – have just announced a deal to buy a 290ft pelagic fishing vessel.
The trawler, which will be built at the Nauta Shipyard in Poland, will have space for 16 crew members and 113,000 cubic feet capacity for mackerel and herring.
Partner and skipper Michael Tait said: “This will be an extremely modern fishing vessel, so it is important the design and the equipment driving the vessel also feature the very latest and best technologies.”
The ship will be delivered in 2017.
Earlier this year, work on a multimillion-pound upgrade of the north-east harbour was completed – marking a new dawn for the port.
Community and business leaders hailed the “massive revamp” – which enables larger vessels and new industries to use the harbour.
The project, which was announced more than three years ago, cost around £12million and is the biggest overhaul of the port for more than half a century.
Announcing the completion of the work, Fraserburgh Harbour Commissioners convener, Peter Bruce, described it as “great news” for the whole town.
Harbour bosses were keen to diversify into the potentially lucrative renewables market, and, by deepening the north basin by 5ft, they have opened the port up to larger turbine maintenance vessels.
In a year of developments for Fraserburgh harbour, the completion of the deepening works came as port officials struck a £1million deal with Pegasus Power and Communications to refit the power supply to the quayside.
The new electricity line for businesses and vessels in the port will end the reliance on diesel generators to supplement quayside power.