Start for £20m Scrabster harbour revamp

WORK is due to get under way early next month on a £20 million redevelopment of Scrabster harbour.

Glasgow-based RJ McLeod has won the contract which is designed to retain the port’s status as one of the busiest in the North.

Apart from boosting existing tanker, fishing and cargo trade, the scheme is geared to build up its offshore oil traffic and to service the upcoming marine energy ventures in the Pentland Firth and Orkney waters.

Far North development agencies view the inner harbour’s redevelopment as a key part of the drive to offset the 2000 jobs being lost as Dounreay runs down.

As the start of construction looms, local residents are being assured everything is being done to keep disturbance to a minimum.

Scrabster Harbour Trust completed the funding package in March but the final green light was only given earlier this month. This came with the approval of a parliamentary revision order – the equivalent of planning consent.

The trust first conceived of the scheme in 2004 after the discovery of low-water corrosion in the tanker berth in the inner harbour.

The advent of larger tankers made improvements to both the berth and its access a priority.

Harbour master Gordon MacKenzie said yesterday: “We’ll create a new tanker berth parallel to the ice plant and we’ll also open up the entrance to the inner harbour. It’s quite hairy at present to get tankers in when you’ve got a strong wind blowing.

“In future, the tankers will be able to come straight in, making it much easier for them to approach and depart.”

The inner basin will be dredged to 4.5 metres while a new 120-metre-long quay will be created on the south side. The quay and the approach channel will be dredged to 7.5 metres.

About half of the inner harbour will be reclaimed to provide 11,000 square metres of lay-down area while a 1000-tonne heavy-lift pad is being installed.

The development will also make life much easier for the visiting white fish fleet. The larger boats, with six-metre draughts, have to plan their movements in and out of Scrabster around high tides. In the new setup, they will have 24

The trust is also installing refrigeration in the fish mart as well as new fuel points and a 500-tonne fresh water tank. A 20-berth pontoon is also being laid for creel boats and leisure craft, while flood preventative measures are also being taken.

Mr MacKenzie said: “The design is slightly different to what we had anticipated. The changes, I think, give us a more user-friendly setup and provide more berths and lay-down areas.”

Much attention has been placed on Scrabster’s potential role in servicing the marine energy and oil and gas developments in the Atlantic Frontier.

While keen to target these, Mr MacKenzie said the trust has sought to look after the needs of its established users. He said: “We needed to ensure we could continue to handle tankers at the port. Failing to do so would have disastrous consequences for the oil depot.

“Likewise, the improvements will be very good news for fishing boats. Things are getting harder for the industry but it’s still a big, big part of our business and we see that continuing to be the case in the future.”

The redevelopment will start with infilling work, with the steel piling scheduled to get under way in September. He said it had responded to eight objections received to the revision order with a series of mitigation measures.

Mr MacKenzie said the piling will be carried out between 8am and 8pm. Construction traffic would also be limited to normal working hours.

Mr Mackenzie said: “There shouldn’t be any noisy activity going on at night.” While dredging would be a 24-hour operation, he said this is not expected to cause any disturbance to residents.

An eight-week trial carried out in the inner harbour had not led to any complaints. The contractors are to have a procedure to investigate any complaints made to them. The contract had been expected to take 18 months but is now expected to last just over a year.

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