300 jobs for Rosyth
Gary Fitzpatrick • Published 11 Nov 2011 09:00
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The former Lexmark plant, soon to be the home of The Meridian Salmon group and around 300 new jobs.
AROUND 300 jobs will be coming to Rosyth when the former Lexmark factory re-opens as a salmon-processing facility next year.
The Meridian Salmon Group plans to be up and running in the second half of 2012 and will start recruiting for a wide range of positions around March.
The workforce will be 200-300 and that figure is expected to rise during future phases of expansion.
The news is a major boost to the West Fife economy with the site having been unused for five years since the closure of Lexmark's printer manufacturing operation.
Meridian has hatcheries, freshwater sites, sea-water sites and processing facilities. Its parent company is the Norwegian firm, Morpol, a world leader in fish processing.
Rosyth will become the firm's main UK facility and as well as the home market, it plans to develop its customer base in the flourishing economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China.
Managing director Geoff Cormack said, "The Rosyth site is a superb facility. It had a lot of public money spent on it of course back in the day and the area has very good transport links."
Meridian was formed at the start of this year by the integration of two well-established fish-farming companies, Northern Isles Salmon and the Lakeland Group.
They were joined by Westray Salmon and Rysa Salmon with all four companies having been acquired by Morpol.
Meridian specialises in the production of Atlantic salmon from the egg through to market-sized fish.
Its website says, "The salmon are reared in excellent conditions in the clean, clear waters around the coast of Scotland, Shetland and Orkney islands.
"Our sites are selected to have a strong tidal flow of water passing through them.
"This ensures the fish get plenty of healthy exercise and that the water in the pen is constantly replenished."
Rosyth councillor Douglas Chapman, who visited the factory last week, said, "It will be great to see 300 people back working on that site. The fact that the company is putting in about £10 million of its own money would signal that they are in it for the long haul.
"Dunfermline will be the centrepiece of its UK operations and I'm sure the port facilities at Rosyth would have been a factor in them choosing to come here.
"I was surprised by the size of the factory when I looked around last week.
"I'm sure that if the company needs help in future with things like training this is something the Scottish Government would look at."
The closure of Lexmark's computer printers plant in 2006 was a devastating jobs blow for the area with 730 redundancies.
The American firm operated in Rosyth for 10 years and received more than £11 million in Government grants over that period.
Have your say. Post a comment on this article.
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kaka30
309 posts
Nov 13, 09:21
Report commentTo a certain extent West Fife is currently bucking the trend in the present economic climate.
Thats more jobs coming to the area & another empty building being put to good use.
Great news & long may it continue.
Recommend?
Yes 14
No 3
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NotHappyJan
192 posts
Nov 13, 21:14
Report commentIts all a bit fishy to me. I don't expect the business will last any longer than a few years but at least the area will smell better than it has in recent years!
Recommend? Yes 10
No 21
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376 posts
Nov 13, 22:56
Report commentThis comment has been moderated by a remover
Recommend? Yes 2
No 11
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kaka30
309 posts
Nov 14, 05:51
Report commentWell that will make you happy Jan, its quite close to you !!!!!!!!
Recommend? Yes 7
No 1
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******
Nov 14, 20:23
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Martix
13 posts
Nov 15, 09:54
Report commenthehe, aye they need to move that sewer outlet at dalgety bay to stop the "pique" from wafting over. Have to agree tho, can't see a salmon processing factory lasting long as a business proposal, esp on the east coast of scotland. Still, wait and see.
Recommend? Yes 1
No 3
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ItsErnie
197 posts
Nov 18, 16:42
Report commentSalmon processing is big business and the raw stock is reared not so far away so why wouldn't it be successful. Some folk see only negativity. Lots of folk will be lining up to try to secure a job and I'm sure they don't need usual naysayers bleating on.
Recommend? Yes 4
No 1
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******
Nov 22, 12:04
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******
Nov 27, 08:25
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