Spread the cost of a feed barge from £80,000 to £900,000 with flexible finance options. HP, lease, or refinance, compare rates from 40+ lenders.
Yes, feed barges are financed as a standard asset purchase, usually on hire purchase or a lease, with the machine itself acting as the security. UK prices typically run £80,000 to £900,000, and most deals are written over 36–84 months with a deposit of around 10–20%. Decisions typically take 1–3 weeks. Used machines are financeable too, usually with a shorter term.
Typical Cost
£80k – £900k
Approval Speed
1–3 weeks
Depends on site licence and mooring review
Rates From
4.5% APR
Your estimate
Indicative only. Not a quote and not an offer of finance.
Pre-filled with a typical feed barge price. Indicative only, not a quote.
Compare feed barge finance rates from 200+ lenders
Check EligibilityOn a purchase price of £300,000: a 10% deposit of £30,000, then 48 monthly payments of £6,329 at 5.9% APR representative (fixed). Total amount payable £333,792, including the deposit. The rate you are offered depends on your business and the asset.
Guide prices for sizing a finance agreement, not quotes. Manufacturers in this market mostly price on application, so where a current UK list price could not be confirmed the row describes a specification class rather than naming a model. Your supplier quote is what the agreement is written against.
| Machine or specification | Guide price | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Small Feed Barge (150-250 tonne storage class) | £80,000 – £200,000 | Small Feed Barge |
| Mid-Scale Feed Barge (250-500 tonne storage class) | £200,000 – £450,000 | Mid-Scale Feed Barge |
| Large Feed Barge (500-850 tonne storage class) | £450,000 – £750,000 | Large Feed Barge |
| Concrete-Hull Feed Barge (long-life, large site class) | £600,000 – £900,000 | Concrete-Hull Feed Barge |
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Check EligibilityA feed barge is a floating vessel, moored rather than fixed to the seabed or to any building, so it is generally treated as moveable plant for capital allowances purposes and can qualify for the Annual Investment Allowance (AIA), letting an operator deduct the full cost from taxable profits in the year of purchase, up to £1,000,000, subject to the normal AIA rules. HP gives access to capital allowances directly; lease payments are normally deductible from profits. This differs from equipment fixed into a building, where allowances treatment is often more complicated, an accountant should still confirm the correct treatment for a specific installation.
Feed barges are bought by finfish farms operating under a site licence and seabed lease or mooring agreement from the relevant marine and environmental authorities, and store and automatically distribute feed to cages, a barge's storage capacity is sized to a site's stocking level and feeding regime rather than chosen independently. Because a feed barge is a major capital item relative to most other equipment on a fish farm, most are financed rather than bought outright, and the barge is often the single largest asset at a site after the cages and nets themselves. Because a barge sits in open water continuously, hull, mooring and mechanical components are exposed to a more corrosive and physically demanding environment than land-based equipment, and working life is generally shorter as a result, with replacement driven mainly by hull and structural condition rather than a fixed age. Concrete-hulled barges are increasingly used where a longer working life is wanted, as an alternative to a traditional steel hull.
Several of our 200+ lenders specialise in businesses with imperfect credit histories. You may need a larger deposit or personal guarantee, but options exist. Checking your options here does not affect your credit score, because we do not run a credit search to match you. A lender will run their own checks only if you decide to apply.
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