Buckie Shipyard Ltd
Buckie Shipyard Ltd was formed in 1995 when Lithgows Limited acquired the business and assets of the two shipyards from the Receiver, including contracts to complete the build of two fishing boats that were under construction in the yards at the time of receivership. Since the incorporation of Buckie Shipyard Limited, significant capital investment has been made in the yard facilities with the upgrade of the main slipway in 2000, and the construction of a new specialist repair and refit facility in 2003. In the last few years, further investment has been made to put facilities in place for the construction of aluminium vessels, with additional production facilities being secured exclusively for such fabrication work. This is an area of the business that is expanding, particularly for Wind Farm Vessels of which seven have been built since 2009 and further vessels are in progress for delivery later in 2012.
In addition to the main and covered slipways, the facilities were augmented in 2003 by the construction of a new repair and refit building (1,600 square metres). This facility includes a state of the art temperature and humidity controlled paint spray booth, capable of taking vessels up to 23m in length, 8.9m in beam and up to 50 tonnes. The facility is served by a 50 tonne Hydraulic Slipway Hoist, which transports vessels directly from the sheltered waters at the inner basin at Buckie Harbour via a dedicated slipway into the building or onto the outside hard standing area, also of approximately 1,600 square meters.
With the capability to sideslip up to 8 vessels and a wealth of covered facilities, the Yard has an extensive capacity, eliminating queuing for slipway facilities. These facilities, combined with the expertise of a highly qualified workforce, enable the company to accommodate high quality routine repair and refits of vessels up to 850 tonnes displacement by 70 metres overall length. The flexibility and experience within Buckie Shipyard ensures the ability to achieve complex customer requirements, and being a yard of such size well versed in working with many classification societies and regulatory bodies from BV, Lloyds, DNV, GL, ABS, and the MCA and SeaFish.
To undertake the build of aluminium vessels Buckie Shipyard leased further facilities close to the main yard, of some 32,000 sq feet, and an adjacent fabrication building with overhead craneage. This investment has allowed the construction of these vessels to take place in excellent facilities, whereby the build is undertaken in a dedicated aluminium production area, the painting undertaken in the state of the art paint spray facility, and outfitting undercover in the new refit building at the water’s edge. This enables a fully completed boat to be launched, ready for immediate sea trials in the Moray Firth and subsequent handover to the customer.
