Cooke brings Invergordon feed facility back into production

PRODUCTION at the former Skretting feed plant in Invergordon has been restarted under its new owners, Cooke Aquaculture.

The Canadian company acquired the site on the Inverbreakie Industrial Estate in September 2019 following its closure in April last year.

Through its subsidiary, Northeast Nutrition Scotland, Cooke has worked closely with former employees to resume operations at the mill.

The company revealed that production of fish feed restarted in January, with the first batch rolling off the production lines and delivered within four months of it acquiring the plant.
Northeast Nutrition Scotland has re-hired 22 people, most of whom were made redundant when the mill closed last year. In all, around 100 jobs were lost, and more staff are expected to be taken on as production steps up.

Chris Bryden, Invergordon mill manager, said:

‘This is a milestone moment for the company. To get the mill operational within four months is testament to the skill and experience of the people who work for us.
‘We are really pleased to have been able to re-hire so many of the people who lost their jobs when the plant closed last year; their knowledge and commitment is what will enable us to rebuild the business and secure its future.

‘Now that we are back up and running, I am confident that we will grow the supply chain and meet the nutritional needs of our customers with top quality feed.’

The mill has the capacity to produce more than 100,000 tonnes of fish feed, covering a wide range of pellet sizes.

It will supply feed to Cooke Aquaculture’s Scottish salmon farms in Orkney and Shetland and Northeast Nutrition Scotland will also seek opportunities with external customers, within the UK and global aquaculture sector.

Full report in the April issue of Fish Farmer (click the image on the right of the page to view)