Aquaculture workboat is pride of the Clyde
A Clyde-built workboat that is believed to be the first ship built in Renfrew since 1964 is being named at a ceremony in Glasgow today.
The Provider – which has been ordered by a Shetland mussel farmer -is a 16.2-metre multipurpose workboat built by Malin Marine and is the first of what the company hopes will be many vessels for Scotland’s aquaculture industry.
The MSD 1655 workboat can be transported by road, something that allowed Malin to take it north and show it off at the Aquaculture UK event at Aviemore in May.
Malin Marine director Graham Tait said the vessel had attracted significant interest and the company had since quoted for four more workboats.
Milestone
He added: “This is a major milestone for Malin Marine and the culmination of many hours of hard work by our multi-disciplined team.
“The vessel build project followed a strategic decision to expand our capability on the Clyde into the design and construction of commercial work vessels. Concept design, detailed design, fabrication and fit out was completed to a high standard using mainly our in-house resources with support from a skilled local supply chain.”
The Provider is designed with a clear, stable deck for all types of marine operations and serviced by a marine crane. She is a shallow draught, twin-screw design which increases manoeuvrability and safety.
New era
Tait said: “We built our small ship in the shadows of some of the world’s most famous shipyards and she follows behind some mighty ships which set sail from the Clyde, and we hope this points to a new era of commercial marine activity on the upper Clyde.
“Our aim is to scale vessel size upwards and develop infrastructure and facilities to undertake larger and more complex projects both in newbuild and ship conversion / repair, thus it is critical that the Clyde remains open and accessible to this type of work.
“Vessels of this design and size are used in various industries including aquaculture, ports, marine civils and inland waterways. In Scotland we have a large and expanding aquaculture industry which require a whole range of vessels to service the marine farm sites including workboats like this one. It is important for the supply chain here in Scotland to have the vessel-building capability to support this industry amongst others.”
