Cooke Scotland's head engineer Terry Rendall with his family. The Ella May is named after his daughters. Photo: Cooke Aquaculture Scotland.

Second new workboat for Cooke in Orkney

Cooke aquaculture Scotland has taken delivery of its newest workboat, the Ella May, which will support its organic seawater site at Cava in Scapa Flow.

Published Last updated

The vessel was designed and constructed by Nauplius Workboats in Groningen in the Netherlands and is equipped with a 13m crane with a lifting capacity of over 1,100kg at full extension.

Last month an identical vessel – Naomi D, named after Cooke’s environmental analyst Naomi Dempsey – entered service at the company’s Mill Bay site in Stronsay, Orkney.

The Ella May in the waterways on Groningen, Netherlands, where she was built. Photo: Nauplius video.

‘Really honoured’

Cooke names its boats after family and staff, and the Ella May is named after head engineer Terry Rendall’s daughters, Lilly May and Ella Marie.

In a Cooke Facebook post, Rendall said: “The Ella May is the latest addition to our fleet of workboats, and has been purpose-built to meet our needs.

“We’re really honoured to have a boat named after our daughters Lilly May and Ella Marie.”

Stable platform

The Naomi D and Ella May are 1507-model utility vessels with a large work deck and knuckle boom crane to allow easy handling of tarpaulins, nets and supporting equipment.

According to Nauplius, the 1507’s unique hull shape ensures a very stable platform whilst stationary at the fish pen but high manoeuvrability and a high speed when under way.

Watch a Nauplius video of the Ella May being lifted into the water in the Netherlands below. A video of the Naomi D at work can be found on Cooke’s LinkedIn page.