Meercat Workboats Ltd., Portsmouth, U.K. announced that it has delivered its first vessel named the Falls of Lora. It is a 14 m steel workboat for Scottish fish farming specialist Dawnfresh Farming.
The vessel is now at Dawnfresh’s trout farming operation on Loch Etive, where it is being used for general fish farm maintenance with a particular focus on feeding operations.
The Meercat is well suited for lifting operations and net handling with a cargo carrying capacity of 15 tonnes, a Heila HLM 10-3s crane with remote control and twin 2-tonne capstans.
The company has focused on creating a large, clear “snag free” deck with ample use of flush deck fittings and limited use of deck hatching.
Gideon Pringle, Farming Director at Dawnfresh stated that this project has probably been one of the most successful that he has known in terms of accuracy and achieving expectations.
New Meercat Managing Director Jason Coltman expressed that this is the twenty second vessel built by the company and the first under the new ownership.
Again, they have delivered the project on time and on budget, underlining their growing role as a leading supplier of small workboats, he added.
The Meercat has made use of hull-form, clear deck configuration, impressive payload and variety of equipment options to handle the multitude of tasks that fish farm management demands.
Sean Lydon, the business support manager commented that Meercat’s approach to this build was very professional. They worked tirelessly with them to deliver a vessel to an agreed specification and exactly on time. This craft will be used to assist in feeding operations across all their sites on Loch Etive.
The aim of Meercat’s 15-strong workforce is to expand the company’s product range to include barges, canal tugs, bigger class-approved workboats and aluminum builds for wind farm support, he added.