MOONEY Boats has started work on their latest €20 million projects in Killybegs this week.
The Eilean Croine arrived in Donegal last week and she will join her sister, the Sparkling Star, at the Blackrock pier for a full fit-out by Mooney Boats and many local businesses over the coming months.
Arriving from the initial yard of construction in Poland, the design team at Mooney Boats is now tasked with ensuring that the new vessels are tailor made to suit the owners exact specifications. The boats will fish from Castletownbere in Cork.
Speaking to the Donegal News yesterday Michael Mitchell, a Design System Engineer at Mooney Boats, said that everything onboard the new vessels will be supplied by Donegal based companies.
“Barry Electronics, Sea Quest and the KER Group here in Killybegs will all be involved while electrical companies in Milford and Letterkenny will also supply to it. Glen Campbell from Frosses is the painter so there’s a good mix.
“It’s an €8 to €10 million contract for each boat which will provide a huge boost to the local economy and is testament to the amazing craftsmanship in Killybegs and across Donegal,” he said.
Mooney Boats worked with naval architects based in Denmark and their clients to come up with a design for the new boats before finding a yard in Europe.
“We tend to chose Latvia or Poland as they have massive yards out there and they are purpose built for this type of work. The hull is built so she is seaworthy and then she’s towed here to Killybegs where she’s fitted out with detailed, specialised parts.
“The two at the pier (Eilean Croine and the Sparkling Star) are sister ships. They’re the biggest boats we have done to date – they’re 31 metres long.
“When complete they’ll fish out out Castletownbere but later in the year they’ll be back in Killybegs to fish for mackerel. They’ll be up and down the coast,” he said.
This time last year, Mooney Boats signed over the Ocean Challenge LK 253, to owner Leslie Hughson from the Shetland Islands. It is fished by a crew by six who fish for whitefish such as cod, haddock, whiting, saithe, king and monkfish.
“It’s nice to be back working on local boats that we’ll see up and down the coast. Our latest apprentices started a few weeks ago and while Brexit was a worry initially, thankfully, we’re as busy as ever,” he said.
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