West Cost Sea Products Ltd specialise in Queen and King Scallop processing. It is ideally located only 500 metres from the harbour in Kirkcudbright, Scotland. The company takes landings from all around the UK, but specialises in Irish Sea fishing, which yields the world famous Pecten Maximus scallops.

The company began as Galloway Shellfish back in 1968, with 14 employees. In 1971 the company changed its name to West Coast Sea Products Ltd. Today, it continues to thrive under this name as a family run business, moving into its third generation of Managing Directors under the family name King.

It now employs almost 150 full and part time operatives. The complete processing cycle, from the catch being off loaded from the local fishing vessels, through to it being processed to the highest of standards, all takes place on site.

To assist with the on-site processing and improve productivity at West Coast Sea Products, the company contacted material handling experts B&B Attachments to provide them with a solution for handling and turning the extensive amount of fresh scallops processed every day.

B&B Attachments, established over 35 years ago, is the leading fork lift truck attachment company in the UK and Ireland. B&B prides itself on providing solutions to the most demanding material handling tasks. Its technical support and fully inclusive maintenance and service contracts for attachments, ensure full support service at every stage of equipment selection and use.

Following a full site survey, B&B attachments supplied the sea products company with a bespoke KAUP 360 degree rotator attachment which was fitted to a Linde truck. This specially manufactured rotator has a hydraulic downhold device for handling and turning boxes – allowing containers and stillages with or without fully enclosed fork pockets to be securely clamped and rotated.

This unit was further modified to West Coast Sea Products requirements to include ‘seaworthy’ specification to protect it against corrosion from the coastal environment. To achieve this specification, the rotator attachment was painted with three layers of sea-worthy paint and fitted with galvanised screws and brass profiles.

Its drilling holes were silicone sealed and the piston rods were prepared with quench polish quench (QPQ) a specialised type of nitro carburizing case hardening that increases corrosion resistance. Drain holes were also added for the excess water in the flange. The hydraulic clamp makes the load safer and allows for more secure handling.

This attachment is used by West Coast Sea Products for turning produce boxes, especially dolavs and stillages. Robert Scott, Transport Manager at West Coast Sea Products Ltd comments “This modified KAUP 360 degree rotator has greatly improved our onsite productivity. It has also ensured that we are handling our products in the safest possible way with reduced labour time.”