An illustration of the E-LUV in operation.

Fish farming workboats builder wins funding for robot welders

Equipment will improve efficiency and ensure high quality at Stornoway workshop says director

Editorial team
Published

A boat building business constructing the UK's first all-electric commercial workboat of its class has secured £166,547 from Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) to purchase innovative equipment to help the business grow.

The funding has enabled Coastal Workboats Scotland Ltd (CWSL) to buy robotic welding equipment that will be used to build the Electric-Landing Utility Vessel (E-LUV) and other commercial workboats at its new premises in Stornoway, Lewis, reports HIE.

CWSL signed a 10-year lease agreement with Stornoway Port Authority for their marine engineering workshop at the beginning of the year and has been actively recruiting to expand its local team, with 11 now employed. The company expects to create around 25 jobs in total within the local marine manufacturing sector.

Work has started to build a range of workboats for customers including Dutch shipbuilder, Damen, which contracts CWSL to build Damen-designed LUVs that it sells on to clients including Scottish salmon and trout farmers. Fish farmers Loch Duart, Organic Sea Harvest, and Kames own vessels built by CWSL.

Demonstrating potential

CWSL will be constructing an electric workboat funded by £6.2 million from the UK Government’s Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition fund, designed to help maritime industries eliminate carbon emissions and increase efficiency. Electric boats already exist, but so far have only been used for leisure. CWSL’s project will be the first to demonstrate commercial potential.

Family-owned CWSL has moved its workboat manufacturing base from Devon to a workshop on Goat Island, Stornoway. The workshop was constructed in 2021 on land reclaimed from the sea as part of the Newton Marina development led by the Stornoway Port Authority. 

High quality levels

CWSL’s new robotic welding equipment will increase the efficiency of welding operations and staff will be trained by the manufacturer.

Coastal Workboats director Brian Pogson said: “Coastal Workboats has always had a focus on quality, innovation and community. The introduction of ‘cobots’ to our workflow offers a unique opportunity to progress all three of these areas.

“As the name suggests, cobots introduce an incredible support role to the team - easing strain, increasing efficiency and safeguarding the workforce. In turn, the capability and capacity of our cobots allows our team to ensure our high levels of quality are maintained. HIE’s support has allowed us to push the boundaries of what the next chapter of UK shipbuilding looks like, from right here in Stornoway.”

Tackling the challenges of a limited power supply

  • A five-week trial of the E-LUV is set to commence in 2025 on Shetland’s Papa Stour to West Burrafirth route. The route will run twice daily, five days a week, with a one-way journey time of 45 minutes.
  • Most workboats are deployed in areas with low or no grid power to support recharging of e-vessels. The new E-LUV addresses this via its accompanying shore power storage system (SPSS) which can be used to recharge the vessel, power other applications and, with its innovative rapid-charging capability, significantly reduce vessel turnaround.
  • The E-LUV will have 2400kWh of installed battery capacity, giving the vessel predicted range of 100 miles in good conditions. This allows for three round trips to Papa Stour if an emergency required this.
  • This can be increased to 150 miles if relocating the vessel by placing a 1200kWh capacity SPSS on the vessel.
  • The EST Floattech Octopus battery system that will be fitted uses a modular approach with multiple strings, and a module failure would reduce the energy available by only 5%.
  • The use of Hydromaster azimuthing pod-drives provides for improved manoeuvrability and increased bollard pull over a conventional diesel shaft drive vessel, while permitting a lower installed power.
  • The propulsion units and vessel systems are designed with double redundancy in mind, so that a single failure won’t prevent the vessel from returning to port under her own power.
  • The forward ramp and folding aft bulwark permit roll on-roll off operation on to and from a slipway.
hie coastal workboats scotland news damen