AWARDS 2025 | Best Mussel Harvester – Fruitful Harvest – Macduff Ship Design

These versatile new mussel harvesting vessels were delivered to a Scottish family-owned company for operations in the Shetland Islands.

Designed by Macduff Ship Design, they were specifically optimised for the challenging, low-water and low-air-draught conditions around Shetland. They feature exceptional manoeuvrability courtesy of both bow and stern thrusters, enabling precise positioning during harvesting operations.

The vessels are fitted with four specialist double harvest davits to starboard and a powerful marine crane, allowing highly efficient mussel harvesting and cargo handling. They are also capable of performing multiple support roles including mooring work, towing, and general aquaculture operations.

These custom-designed vessels represent a significant upgrade in efficiency and capability for mussel farming in the demanding Shetland environment.

"Fruitful Harvest and Fruitful Bough were developed closely with the vessel owners to operate within their mussel farm sites in the Shetlands," Ian Ellis, Managing Director at Macduff Ship Design, told Baird Maritime. "The vessels satisfied key operational requirements to ensure optimal performance for all of the farming stages but with particular reference to harvesting and setting.

"The vessels utilise specialist gantries developed with the owner to ensure smooth operations. They also had to meet strict water and air draught limitations to work within the confines of some of the owner's farm areas and transit routes. The combination of these restrictions with the operation requirements and deck and cargo capacities led to tight constraints within the overall design."

Ellis said these were the first bespoke mussel farming vessels Macduff Ship Design has worked on. Hence, the development of the hull and vessel layouts was carefully considered in conjunction with the owner.

"The design team spent considerable time discussing operations and reviewing the design to ensure the vessels met all of the owner's specific requirements. This partnership meant that the design had to naturally evolve through the early development prior to finalising for the detailed design and final build."

Although Fruitful Harvest and Fruitful Bough feature conventional ICE propulsion arrangements, Ellis remarked that vessels powered by alternative propulsion technologies would become more prevalent in the future, but this scenario would pose "a huge challenge" to vessel design, particularly among small vessel fleets.

"There are multiple potential options for new technology and alternate fuels that pose challenges, and owners and operators must ensure that any decisions are correct and are not based on technologies that will be sidelined," he told Baird Maritime. "The uncertainty on what technologies will become readily available in the coming years makes deciding on this aspect very challenging, as all of these new technologies come with their own benefits and drawbacks with many of them requiring significantly increased space and having increased costs."

Ellis added that even the fishing industry has been facing its own challenges in complying with environmental regulations both in terms of vessel operation and catch.

"We see a drive towards improved vessel efficiency and catch quality to maximise the value of the catch whilst minimising operating costs."

For a list of the 2025 "Best Of" award winners, please click here.