Parkol Marine Engineering has been a centre of building and repairs for fishing and other vessels for almost fifty years, initially at its Whitby site and more recently at a second location in Middlesbrough. Its focus mainly on fishing vessels, until recently Parkol only did business within the UK.
Earlier this year an order was placed with Parkol by Irish fishing company D&N Kirwan for a new 27 metre trawler, to be built at the yard’s Middlesbrough site. To fulfil this £3 million deal, Parkol needed the capital stage payments to be guaranteed to the full value of the contract.
The Covid-19 pandemic then struck during the design stage of the project, and Parkol were forced to furlough staff at both sites until measures could be introduced to safeguard the workforce.
To secure the guarantees needed to build the boat, Parkol’s bank put them in touch with their local UKEF representative, who worked with the bank to put in place a series of government-backed advance payment guarantees in two currencies that enabled the deal to go ahead.
‘Winning this export deal was an important milestone for our company, and we wouldn’t have been able to do it without UKEF. Coming at a crucial time for the business, it enabled us to get our staff back to work after furlough and allowed the business to keep operating,’ said Parkol director Sally Atkinson.
‘Now that we have this export experience under our belts, we are looking to win more business overseas, with another deal already in the pipeline.’
