During this quiet time in our production seasons, the sales team like to take the opportunity to visit some of our customers & service providers to discuss any issues from the previous season and possibilities for the forthcoming one. Last week, Alan Leask, Kay Flaws and I had the pleasure of visiting Klaipeda, one of the distribution hubs for our mackerel.

The first day of our visit was spent with a very enjoyable boat trip on the MV Lana from the village of Nida, located close to the Kaliningrad border on the Curonian Spit. We sailed across the bay and had lunch at a riverside village before returning to Nida, a voyage that took around 5 hours.

On our return to Klaipeda we decided to inaugurate the Translit Grand Prix at the local go-kart track. A very competitive race ensued, which was won by The STIGitas Ambrazevicius of Benko Services, following by myself then Alan Leask. Unfortunately there was no champagne available for the traditional post-race celebrations!

The 2nd day was spent with business meetings and touring the coldstores we use for our mackerel. It was very interesting to see the recent developments in the port, the re-building of coldstores & warehouses and the increase in containerised cargo. Thanks to Eduardas Galuskinas of Klaipedos Smelte for showing us around.

We managed to surprise an old friend, Einar Einarsson, Captain of MV Silver River, who was planning a quiet lunch before joining his ship. We enjoyed such local delicacies as cold beetroot soup, pigs ears & zeppelinni..yum yum!

We would like to thank Karolis, Arturus, Natalya and all the Translit team for their very kind hospitality during our stay and we hope to return this in Shetland soon!!

John Angus.
21st June 2011.