Peterhead looks to future with confidence

In August 2001, HRH the Princess Royal opened the new £3.5m Merchants Quay fishmarket and £5.5m Syncrolift Ship Repair facility with its impressive 30 metre high repair hall.

The fishmarket is fully refrigerated with air-locking doors both on the seaward and landward sides to maintain constant temperature control at all times. The facility enables fishermen to have much more flexibility in the timing of their landings. Mechanical handling facilities are also available to enable more efficient and less physically strenuous transfer from the market floor to the road transport vehicles which dock into sealed doors.

A Quality Adviser has been appointed to monitor the quality of fish being landed and ensure that the quality is maintained through the auction link in the chain. This has led to improved practices and heightened awareness that quality is an important element in a need to maximise the price, particularly on account of the lower volumes of whitefish being landed. Many vessels are weighing at sea and, with improvements in the standard of grading and labelling of fish, opportunities abound for both the catching and processing sectors.

A facility for electronic trading has been provided within the construction of the market and market users are currently evaluating the feasibility of such systems and identifying appropriate hardware and software options.

Pelagic landings in Peterhead in 2001 were significantly improved, with 29,000 tonnes of mackerel worth £10.5m and 17,000 tonnes of herring with a value of £4.8m being put ashore. Although the combined total is only 5,000 tonnes more than that landed in 2000, the value has more than doubled because of the buoyant state of the market.

Major investment in processing and freezing facilities onshore by five companies in the port area will place Peterhead in an even more competitive position for landing and marketing pelagic fish.

Whitefish and shellfish landings were reduced in 2001, with only 45,000 tonnes landed compared with 90,000 tonnes in 1995. However, according to Peterhead Harbours chief executive John Paterson, increased quotas and a vessel decommissioning scheme should result in greater opportunities in 2002.

“We believe that 2001 was the bottom of the trough as far as demersal landings are concerned . We expect to see a recovery in prices due to an increasing number of vessels becoming involved in schemes to improve fish quality and also a more structured landing regime,” he says.

“We are already seeing the benefits brought by the new refrigerated market which give vessels the capability to land their catches round the clock.

“As far as pelagic landings are concerned, major investment by local processing firms will stand the sector in good stead for the future.”

The Syncrolift Ship Repair facility with its 30 metre high repair hall is proving a major benefit to the fishing fleet. Last December, the largest demersal vessel in the UK fleet, MFV Atlantic Challenge PD197, was quickly removed from the water and installed in the covered berth. It only took four days for local ships’ tradesmen to fully repaint the vessel and carry out significant engineering works. This would certainly not have been possible without the benefit of covered protection from the weather. There is also an external berth which is an extremely efficient arrangement with greatly improved access to the vessel over facilities elsewhere. This is proving popular where weather protection is not required.

Tradesmen particularly relish this facility and have geared up their own facilities to maximise the exploitation of the Syncrolift. Ship owners already see improved quality in paintwork and welding.

Despite the pressure on berthing space, particularly in deepwater, Peterhead Harbours has also continued to regularly host coastal oil tankers delivering fuel oils, refrigerated cargo vessels exporting pelagic frozen species all over the world, exports of agricultural produce — barley and oil-seed rape in particular and imports of fertiliser and road salt.

Peterhead Harbour Trustees are now endeavouring to maximise the efficiency of these new developments to place Peterhead very firmly on the map as a centre of excellence for fish importation.