Vessel Management Services

Having played a role as fishing vessel agents since 1900, LHD has worked alongside Shetland’s boats and their crews through a number of eras in the industry’s history.

Supporting fishing boats in what is a very changeable and at times uncertain industry, we have maintained a solid working relationship with our fleet of pelagic and whitefish trawlers as well as many scallop, crab and small day boats.

Operating a successful fishing boat requires many elements to work together. As well as having a well running and well maintained vessel there are a whole range of ‘behind the scenes’ jobs which have to be done to make the whole operation run smoothly.

At LHD our decades of experience have made us well versed in dealing with this side of the business. In the day to day running of the industry our operations department coordinate the daily fish landings to the Scalloway and Lerwick markets, as well as running the daily fish auction in partnership with Shetland Seafood Auctions. Our marine supplies department keep the fleet of local and visiting boats topped up with fuel, ice, stores and boxes, and our net store and wire store are on hand for any ongoing repairs.

Over the longer term there are other areas of the business to consider and LHD have always had a vital role to play in managing the boats finances, insurance and accounts, as well as any licencing and other administrative issues.

In an industry constrained by quota, fishing effort limits and other pieces of bureaucracy, another facet of our job is striving to ensure our boats have adequate amounts of fish to catch and an adequate amount of days in which to catch it. Through the buying, selling, swapping and leasing of quota we aim to keep our boats working to best of their potential year on year.