02 Sep An Interview with Industry Legend – Hamish Balfour
Shetland Transport, founded in 1983 by Hamish Balfour, provided freight forwarding services throughout the UK and Europe, primarily transporting fresh fish under temperature-controlled conditions from the Shetland and Orkney islands via Aberdeen to the mainland UK.
The company started with a handful of employees, alongside 4/5 trailers, a 7 1/2 tonne rigid and a delivery van. The company grew over the years and by the time Hamish was ready to retire, he had 66 employees, 40 vehicles and 130 trailers.
“When Shetland Transport first started, there wasn’t a lot of industry in Shetland for return loads out. In 1977 roll-on/roll-off ferry services to Aberdeen started and soon after this launch I had the good fortune to get shares in a new-start company, Shet Link, and I was able to get ships to Shetland three times a week. At this time there were only three ferry services a week and as the years have passed it has increased to daily services.
I moved to the Scottish Mainland in 1979 and decided to get some experience under my belt, so I pretty much drove a truck for 4 years to get knowledge of the industry and experience. I lived in the Aberdeenshire area from 1979 until 1983 when I decided to start Shetland Transport. I first met Jim Gray Snr in 1978, however, it wasn’t until around 12-18 months before I started Shetland Transport, that a fellow director and I travelled to Fraserburgh to first meet with Jim Gray Snr and discuss the Gray & Adams and the industry. Then only after 1983 and starting Shetland Transport, things really started to come about, and our need for trailers, and good quality ones, became apparent.
Fresh produce and supermarkets were not as big as they are today and the only thing coming out of Shetland was frozen white fish, and even this was limited in volume that could be generated. In the mid-80s the Norwegians arrived to the Shetlands, having had success on the West Coast of Scotland farming salmon, they brought this to the Shetlands too.
The salmon industry in Shetland now makes up around 35-40% of total Salmon in the UK. The growth of the salmon industry in Shetland brought opportunities for return loads which meant we had to invest in refrigerated trailers. In 2000 we had around 50 trailers, with 35-40 of those being refrigerated. At this time we had some Gray & Adams trailers, but the majority of our fleet was second-hand, due to managing finances for our growth at that time.
The aquaculture industry has been a big support to the economy of Shetland, and massively helped Shetland Transport’s growth. The salmon industry gave us volume and then we started to enjoy the increase in mussels, with Shetlands now accounting for 80% of Scotland’s mussel tonnage.
Today the aquaculture industry is spread across a variety of species including white fish, salmon, mussels, and pelagic fish. Herring, mackerel and white fish were the basis of the aquaculture industry and over the years it expanded with the addition of farmed salmon and mussels.
The mackerel industry boomed in the 1970’s, with Japan being one of the biggest customers, alongside European and Baltic states. While this is typically dominated by the Norwegians, the mackerel and pelagic industry also required a tonnage that would travel by road to the UK mainland and sometimes into France or Germany we were fortunate enough to have exclusive transport of that.
There are two fish markets in Shetland, one in the capital, Lerwick, which is on the east side and one on the west side at Scalloway. The Shetlands need two markets to sell fish because of the harsh weather conditions.
In the 90s, the people who were responsible for selling the fish at these markets set up an electronic auction, where you could be anywhere in the world and buy from either fish market. The electronic addition to Shetland’s fish markets was a huge plus factor. Before the electronic auction, we were working with the markets face to face and through determination, I was able to get all the work off the two fish markets, allowing me to purchase more trailers from Gray & Adams to fulfil the work.
Every day between 16 and 20 of our trailers would make the 12-hour, overnight crossing to and from Aberdeen, or between the Orkneys and the mainland, a journey that typically takes up to eight hours, but can take as long as 14 hours in poorer weather conditions.
Our depot in Aberdeen, allowed us to send our trailers unaccompanied and without a tractor unit across the water from the Shetlands. This base allowed us the flexibility of tractor units to pull the trailers and came at a better price than transporting tractor and trailer together. As our trailers were unaccompanied, they were required to be chained down, and with the poor weather comes a strain on the build of a trailer. I worked closely with Gray & Adams on this over a number of years, even having Peter Gray with me on the ferry, on a rough weather night might I add. This allowed Peter to understand what we needed to achieve within the specification. From this came the ‘ferry spec’ which Gray & Adams still use today.
The Gray & Adams insuliners also benefitted us over the years. We took a number of trailers to our original spec, and having used them for a number of years, we were ablemto recognise where tweaks were required. For example, due to the salty air in the North of Scotland, we recognised the need for stainless steel to prevent rusting. We always stayed with Gray & Adams for our repairs as we believed that our best advert was our vehicles, and Gray & Adams allowed us to keep our vehicles in first-class condition.
In 2017 I sold Shetland Transport to Shipping and Logistics Group DFDS. I recognised the growth of Shetland Transport and wanted to have a plan to ensure my employees were looked after. DFDS acquired all shares and took control of the Aberdeen, Glasgow & Shetland depots. I stayed on as Managing Director for a number of years after the acquisition to ensure a smooth transitional period and stepped back from the role and retired in 2022.
I have since been enjoying retired life, getting the chance to do things that I never would have had the opportunity to do before. Being a founder and managing director, my weeks and weekends were always busy with work, so it is nice to enjoy the free time trying new things and spending more time with my children and grandchildren.”
– Hamish Balfour, Founder, Shetland Transport