Established in 1986, with one box making machine, in a small factory adjacent to the Saga Seafoods at the Foot of Browns Road, Thulecraft has been supporting the local Aquaculture Industry through the supply of Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) boxes ever since.
In 1994, with demand for product increasing Thulecraft moved to purpose built premises at Gremista, which were extended in 1999. Whilst primarily used for the export of Shetland Salmon, Thulecraft also provide the boxes required for the export of Shetland Mussels.
Since its inception the Box plant has produced in excess of 35 Million Boxes.
With the continued investment in the local Aquaculture Industry, in 2018/19 we extended our box plant to provide a new silo room for the maturing and storage of bead. We now have 12 new dual purpose silos (each can he used for both the heavy and light bead we use).
We also extended our boiler house and now have 'twin' Cochrane Wee Chieftan Boilers to give us 100% redundancy and ensure that we are in a position to meet our customers needs at all times. We have also invested in three further Erlenbach machines. The first, a lid making machine, was installed in October '19 and the 2nd, a box machine, was commissioned in October '20 and the third, a further box machine was commissioned in December '21.
EPS, being lightweight with superb insulating qualities, is perfect for transporting fresh seafood. Our boxes are of a standard size which makes handling, transport and storage straightforward.
EPS is 100% recyclable.
We remain very proud that in September 2017 our Box Plant became one of the 1st local businesses to attain the ISO 9001:2015 accreditation.