The Port of Cromarty Firth board today announced a new quayside expansion, costing £30 million.
The new 218-meter-log quayside and 9 acres of laydown area has been designed as a new energy and cruise hub and will be completed by 2020, the port said.
“It will not only be able to accommodate large scale renewable, decommissioning and oil and gas projects, it will also be able to berth the largest cruise ships currently being designed and built,” the port said, in a press release.
This will be the second quayside and laydown area built by the port in three years.
Bob Buskie, Chief Executive of the Port of Cromarty Firth said: “This is tremendous news for the Port and the Highlands and it represents a significant investment by the Board. As a Trust Port, all of our profits are reinvested in the Port’s future development. We believe this investment will be help bring new work to the area for decades to come. This is already starting, with last week’s announcement of the Moray East Offshore Windfarm contract.
“The team at the Port have been working for two years on this project and we couldn’t have done it without the help of the Scottish Government, Highlands & Islands Enterprise, Royal Bank of Scotland and, of course, our new partners Moray East. Everyone collaborated to make this happen for Scotland and the Highlands and I would like to thank everyone on behalf of the Port’s Board for their hard work and commitment to the project.”
Bob added: “There is a substantial demand for the services in the Port and, even with the large new quayside and laydown area finished in 2016, we still experience capacity issues. This new Energy and Cruise Hub will help us resolve these problems and open up the Port to being able to accommodate large scale projects from across all sectors.”
Fergus Ewing MSP for Inverness and Nairn commented “This is excellent news and a result of hard work by the team at PoCF. I am delighted they have won this crucial contract and this will provide a real boost to the Port and the wider Highland economy.”
