Loch Duart orders Scotland’s first hybrid feed barge
Sutherland and Uists salmon farmer Loch Duart will become the first in Scotland to use a “hybrid” feed barge, supplier ScaleAQ said today.
The barge, which will be delivered in spring next year, combines batteries and diesel engine power to reduce environmental emissions and to improve the immediate working environment.
It has been developed using an in-house environmental management system and simulation tool to enable ScaleAQ to customise the barge to individual farm requirements.
The order from Loch Duart came in a record year for barge sales for ScaleAQ in Scotland and Ireland, the Norwegian-owned company said in an update on its website. Trout farmer Kames has recently purchased a 300-tonne barge, to be delivered in June 2021, and a full farm infrastructure package delivered to Scottish Sea Farms’ new Hunday site in Orkney included a barge. ScaleAQ’s are predominantly made in steel and contstructed at a shipyard in Poland.
Thermolicers
ScaleAQ has also won orders for two bespoke Thermolicers for Mowi and another Scottish salmon producer.
A new vessel, owned and operated by Mull-based Inverlussa Marine Services, is currently being built in Holland by Nauplius Workboats to carry Mowi’s Thermolicer and will be delivered in 2021.
ScaleAQ’s UK and Ireland general manager, Graham Smith, who joined the company in July after 10 years as SSF’s regional production manager for Shetland, said: “Having been part of the industry since 1986 and recently moved from production into the equipment and service side of the industry, I strongly believe that ScaleAQ is well-placed to support the sector going forward with its large portfolio of products.”
