Hot on the heels of Cygnus Marine’s recent demise, Ronnie and Mary Coote’s Kingfisher Boats, established in 1986, finally closed for business at the end of June, ending half a century of commercial fishing boat building in GRP at Penryn and Falmouth, Cornwall, UK.
However, both of the Cygnus and Kingfisher brands are set to continue under the same roof.
Falmouth’s loss has become Scotland’s gain as Anderson Marine of Peterhead will now be building both Cygnus GM33, SF33, SF38, GM40 and Kingfisher K20, K24, K26 and K33 ranges of displacement hulls in kit form, or as completed vessels.
Mary Coote, who will be retiring along with her husband Ronnie, told WF the downturn in world trade combined with a troubling move within Europe, spearheaded by the German fishing fleet to shun GRP by constructing new boats in steel, as well as the ever increasing risk of financially crippling litigation against small businesses, was making staying in business and generating honest profit, almost impossible.
“New health and safety regulations are making things more and more difficult for the low volume producer, so we added all the facts together and decided to call it a day,” she said.
“Fortunately, we have not generated an unemployment problem, as those of our skilled work force who did not opt for early retirement, have all found jobs in Cornwall. We own our premises and we will be renting our building to Seacore, the successful Falmouth-based deepsea exploration and drilling company.”
In a statement, Kingfisher said: “The sale of the Kingfisher displacement range to Anderson Marine in Scotland is part of a change of strategic direction for the company, which will continue production to ISO9001:2008 of its existing fast range of vessels for the commercial and recreational markets. Our 31-foot Fast Catch boats are to be produced by Trinity Boats of Plymouth.”
