Quickest way to make this a first port of call...
Speed of work can bring more business
carriageway from here whereas if they were [picking up loads] at Dundee or some of the other coastal ports the road haulage cost goes up considerably,” he said.
Mr Taylor conceded the recent loss of one of the harbour’s biggest customers, EWOS-CQN Scotland, was a blow for the port but insisted he and his deputy can win new trade to make up for it.
“We’ve been brought in to develop the business as well as oversee the day to day running of the harbour,” he said.
“We’re out there doing trade shows and talking to businesses who have maybe not thought about using ships to move their goods and explaining to them how they could use Perth Harbour.”
The future of the port was already looking up earlier this year when oilfield services company M-I Swaco announced it expects to use the port to ship around 120,000 tonnes of cargo a year when its starts extracting barite at a new mine at Duntanlich in Highland Perthshire.
In a further positive sign for the future, Mr Taylor this week revealed that Perth and Kinross Council is also close to cracking on with a dredging programme that will make the harbour even more accessible.
He also expects to see a number of large ships arrive in Perth in the next few months and has said he will provide the PA with regular updates on activity at the port.
John and Ryan hope to attract business to Perth Harbour John and Ryan aboard the Fair Maid of Perth
We can bring a vessel in on one tide and it can go back out on the next tide. Our competitors take days to do that