Macduff Shipyards Ltd

Macduff Shipyards Ltd is a Scottish shipyard group established in 1940, building new vessels and carrying out repairs, refits and conversions at facilities in Macduff, Buckie and Fraserburgh. Alongside shipbuilding it designs and manufactures hydraulic deck machinery and stern gear systems, and holds the Scottish agency for Wartsila Deep Sea Seals products following its acquisition of the trading assets of Henry Fleetwood & Sons Ltd. The wider Macduff Group also operates three other divisions: Macduff Crane Hire, Macduff Profilers (CNC plate profiling and fabrication) and Macduff Precision Engineering (CNC and manual machining). The yard employs a team of around 200 and can handle vessels up to 65m from design and production through to repair and refit.

Established in 1940 and originally founded as John Watt and Sons, Macduff Shipyards Limited is a Scottish shipbuilder and repairer now owned by its three working directors. The company incorporated under its present name in 1985 and built its first steel vessel in 1987, having previously specialised in timber fishing boats. It heads the Macduff Group, which comprises four divisions — Macduff Shipyards, Macduff Crane Hire, Macduff Profilers and Macduff Precision Engineering — and works with a team of around 200 people.

Services

New builds, conversions, modernisations, repair and refit; vessels up to 35m built and outfitted undercover, with larger vessels fitted out on subcontracted hulls
Full service docking, painting, engineering, fabrication and fitting out
Design, manufacture and installation of hydraulic deck machinery: net, landing, anchor and glison winches, gear handling, tipping doors and scalloper conveyors, plus spare and second-hand parts
Stern gear design and manufacture (Fleetwood sterngear, 50–300mm shaft diameter, oil or water lubricated; bronze tubes for wooden and GRP vessels; replacement CPP shafts to 250mm diameter and 7m length)
Deep Sea Seals: Mane-bar, Manecraft seals and composite bearings from Wartsila, for whom the company holds the Scottish agency
Re-powering and advice on engines, gearboxes and propellers; Volvo and Cummins engine spares, Separ and Racor filters
CNC profiling of carbon steel, stainless and aluminium, including Lloyds approved shipbuilding steel with 3.2 certification
CNC and manual machining; crane hire and cargo handling up to 180t on CPA Crane Hire or CPA Contract Lift terms

Facilities

Macduff: slipway with 4 hydraulic cradles (to 30m x 10m x 350t), berths to 40m, two fabrication halls to 27m, engineering and carpenters workshops, machine shop
Buckie: fabrication hall to 30m, boat hoist and slipways to 570t, RNLI paint booth to 20m, berths to 80m
Fraserburgh: dry dock to 66m x 14m, ship lift with 6 berths to 33m/900t, berths to 95m, engineering and plate cutting shed

Vessel Types

Fishing vessels, workboats, pilot boats, tugs, ferries, survey and research craft
Aquaculture barges and workboats to 30m in steel or aluminium
Oil-related vessels, dredgers, motor yachts, barges and general harbour craft

Location

Head office at The Harbour, Macduff, Aberdeenshire, with offices and facilities in Buckie (Moray), Fraserburgh, and crane hire bases in Macduff and Inverness