The Jubilee Fishing Company has placed a £1.5million order with Parkol Marine of Whitby for the vessel, which they expect to be delivered in August 2009.

The company has also purchased the Peterhead based vessel Fruitful Harvest which they plan to update for their own fishing purposes.

Director Dave Johnson told Fishupdate.com that the investment was an expression of faith in the future of Jubilee and of the fish catching industry in general.

He said: "The new boat will be similar in size and design to the 21.5 metre long Our Lass II, built by Arnold Locker Trawlers and which was launched by Parkol Marine last year. The new vessel, the largest to be built in England for some years, is already proving very successful."

But Mr Johnson expressed worries about the long term future of Grimsby as a catching port. He said the fish dock modernisation plan was still shrouded in secrecy which was not helping his company. "There are rumours going around that the fish dock may be closed and everything moved to Europarc where they want to build a seafood exchange. If that happened we would have to move out - perhaps up to Whitby or even as far north as Scotland. I am a director of the fish market and even I can't find out what is happening, but as a company we weed to know."

Mr Johnson said the uncertainty was not helping matters. "But I can tell you there is no uncertainty about the catching side of the industry at the moment and that is why we have ordered this new vessel. It is hoped we can find out something more definite in the next few weeks."

Jubilee owners eight vessels and manages a number of others. It currently has two boats, the Jubilee Quest and Jubilee Intruder, fishing off the Norwegian coast as well as couple of vessels on North Sea guard duty. Not all catches are sold on the market - some fish, mainly plaice is sent directly to retailers and processors.

Jubilee, which has over 30 fishermen on its books, was established in 1977 just as the last distant water trawlers were leaving Grimsby and the company is also well known as a fish sales operation with experienced auctioneers. Its vessels have also been employed on fish scientific research work and North Sea aircraft recovery operations.

www.fishupdate.com is published by Special Publications. Special Publications also publish FISHupdate magazine, Fish Farmer, the Fish Industry Yearbook, the Scottish Seafood Processors Federation Diary, the Fish Farmer Handbook and a range of wallplanners.

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