Twenty years of success for Caithness shellfish company

19th February 2013

A Caithness based processor and supplier of locally sourced shellfish which recently expanded its business is celebrating 20 years of success based at Scrabster harbour.

JPL Shellfish has been serving customers across the UK since it was established in 1992, and an increase in requests to export live shellfish to new international markets has resulted in an expansion of its premises.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) supported the company with a grant which allowed it to double its workforce and expand globally.

“With HIE’s help we have purchased equipment for holding live shellfish and we have expanded our team so we are able to focus more on the export side of the business which we are looking to expand even further. We now export to nine different countries across Europe, Asia and America, and we continue to get enquiries from all around the world including, Russia and Malaysia.” said John Logue, Managing Director of JPL Shellfish.

When John started the business 20 years ago, he was involved in unloading and organising the Faroese and Scottish whitefish boats. He then went on to buying shellfish on behalf of a UK based exporter. In 2001, John progressed to exporting through his own business in 2011 and now employs 11 members of staff.

The company currently also operates as a wholesaler and retailer with a fish shop in Caithness, although its main business is exporting live shellfish to France, Spain and Portugal on a weekly basis.

John continued: “We are proud to have reached 20 years in business and are grateful to our staff and suppliers for all their hard work and support. We also thank HIE for assisting us with our expansion plans. We hope to build on our success in the future as we are continually developing new export markets which will enable us to support the local suppliers and fishermen across the north of Scotland as well as providing stable employment.”

Laura Gunn, Development Manager at HIE, said: “We are delighted that JPL’s growth in Scrabster over the last 20 years has exceeded expectations. HIE will continue to work with the company to realise further growth opportunities for this area. With the company breaking into new international markets, its success is showing the world the quality of our shellfish.”

PHOTO (L-R) from JPL Shellfish, Christina Logue and Mandy Gillies
PHOTOGRAPHER - Angus Mackay - www.angusmackay.co.uk