25th September – 8th October (25 arrivals)

Harbour News

Whitefish totalled 2200 boxes from 1 Scottish trawler, 2 landings from a Spanish liner and 1 landing from a Spanish freezer. Once again the fishing has been good with vessels reporting decent hauls from all grounds, no more than one would expect given the massive reduction in Scottish effort in recent years. Currently there are 6 – 8 Scottish whitefish vessels working west, changed days from a fleet of 80-100 vessels fishing from Kinlochbervie, Lochinver and Ullapool not 20 years ago.

The shellfish sector continues to have mixed fortunes; the offshore crabbers made good weekly landings whilst the local inshore fleet spent most of the time tied up.

The non fishing sector saw Smit naval support vessels make 5 calls, the fishfarm tank boat Gripfisk in for a layover, the bulk carrier Borhoui in to discharge 850 tonnes of road salt and the cruise ship Hebridean Princess in for the last call of the 2012 season. The 2012 cruise ship season saw 9 arrivals with 3200 passengers and 1400 crew enjoying the delights of the area in mostly decent sunny weather. The 2013 season looks to be the busiest yet with 14 vessels booked in, passenger and crew numbers are expected to be in the region of 10,000.

This year’s return visits of the Tall Ships Statsraad Lehmkuhl and Wylde Swan were very well received with over 1000 people turning out to see the Statsraad and 180 locals taking the chance to go sailing on the Wylde Swan. Both vessels have indicated that they will return in 2013, itinerary information will be posted on the harbour website and in the UN in due course. Another event worthy of note for next year’s diary is the inaugural Skiff Word Championships 8th – 14th July; this promises to be a memorable week with many hundreds of rowers and supporters coming to the village in search of fun and glory. (C’mon the Lass)

Many thanks to all those that applied for the P/T Admin Assistant vacancy, this position has now been filled.

Ullapool Harbour Trustees in line with the 2011 Ullapool Harbour Revision Order are currently advertising three Trustee vacancies, see full page advert for application information and further details.