Offshore Wind Renewables & Energy Transition
Kishorn Port Limited (‘KPL’) welcomes the findings of Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council’s recent report Scottish Offshore Wind Strategic Investment Assessment and the earlier Port Enhancement for Offshore Wind report by Crown Estate Scotland (CES), Scottish Enterprise (SE) and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE).
Our 45ha port has been recognised for its significant potential to support future offshore wind development building on an already approved port masterplan which will see the creation of additional laydown land, a new deep-water quay and an extended dry dock facility.
The port is situated within a sheltered location and has one of the largest dry docks in Europe and an aggregate quarry and concrete batching facilities suitable for the manufacture for subsea concrete structures for floating or fixed bottom offshore wind turbines.
Our vision is reflected in a new computer generated fly through, released today, of the port, showing the scope for the manufacturing, laydown, assembly and load-out of offshore wind structures, alongside day-to-day port operations including vessel decommissioning and aquaculture.
KPL is already engaged in conversations with offshore wind developers and other Scottish ports to ensure port capacity is available in the right place with the necessary capabilities, optimising existing and future opportunities through ‘Cluster Submissions and Port Alliances’ for ‘whole-project’ solutions. This approach will ensure Scotland is well placed for future opportunities in the renewable energy sector. Going forward, KPL is enthusiastically looking forward to working with developers, CES, HIE, Highland Council, Scottish Government and other ports to ensure we are ready to play our part in the continuing deployment of offshore wind in Scotland and beyond.
Kishorn Port already has principal infrastructure and site improvement plans in the pipeline, with Highland Council planning permission granted for the major project of increasing the dry dock to accommodate 250m long vessels and the reclamation of foreshore to increase laydown land by a further 9.5 hectares (22 acres) which will provide over to 20 hectares of available land at or close to quayside. There are also plans to replace one of the quays and create a new 500m quay with a minimum draft of 20m. KPL is ahead of the curve in licensing and permissions to expand which was reflected in the reports. The port was also recognised to be in proximity of the proposed ScotWind lease sites, in particular N1-N4 and also W1, but not excluding other areas in the North and North East (NE1- NE8).
We hope you enjoy and share our vision.
Kishorn Port Limited is a joint venture between Corpach-based Ferguson Transport and Shipping and Aberdeen-based Leiths (Scotland) Limited.
The port is located on the West Coast of Scotland within the Wester Ross area.
The original Kishorn Yard was developed as a manufacturing and fabrication yard for oil platforms in the 1970’s. The yard was owned by Howard Doris Ltd who operated it from 1975 to 1987. The dry dock was constructed specifically for the fabrication of the Ninian Central platform, a 600,000 tonne concrete structure. In 2019 the port hosted the first major project at Kishorn for nearly 20 years, the mobilisation of the Ocean Great White drilling rig. In May 2020, the MV Kaami cargo vessel was decommissioned within the dry dock with over 99% of the vessel being reused or recycled. Also in 2020, the Voyageur Spirit FPSO arrived at Kishorn for a period of preservation and maintenance, followed by the Banff FPSO which was anchored within the loch, along with the Northern Producer which is earmarked to come into the dry dock for decommissioning.
Future development costs are estimated to be in the region of £40 million and will potentially create up to 50 jobs during construction and up to 300 jobs during manufacturing and related activities. These activities would include concrete production and manufacturing of offshore wind foundations, assembly and load-out of concrete and/or steel foundations, as well as continued decommissioning activities in the dry dock with all associated services provided at the port such as accommodation, welfare, logistics, cranage and laydown.
For further information, please contact enquiries@kishornportltd.com FAO: Alasdair Ferguson and Colin Ortlepp, Co-Directors of Kishorn Port Ltd.
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