Council seeks buyer to save harbour

Hard-pressed Perth Harbour chiefs have chosen to hand over the reins of the struggling local authorityowned port to the private sector, it has emerged.

They are seeking to appoint a suitable contractor to run the operation, which has seen a dramatic drop in traffic in the last decade, and act as harbourmaster for the next five years under a contract worth around £700,000.

The moves comes just a few months after a council paper urged elected members to authorise officials to start examining“other commercial opportunities”the loss-making inland port could support.

The November paper said the volume of cargo being moved on and off ships had“declined considerably”over the last 10 to 15 years despite the best efforts of a not-long departed new harbourmaster and the council’s own inward investment team to try and persuade companies to use it more often.

The same paper also recommended councillors let officials put a proposed dredging programme - which would increase the window of time within which pilots would be able to guide ships in and out of the port - on hold until it was clear how much the operation would actually cost.

Councillor Chris Ahern, chair of the local authority’s Harbour Board, explained:“PKC is tendering for a marine operations company to take over management and commercial operations for Perth Harbour for an initial period of 60 months.

“This contract will allow the council to ensure that harbour operations continue to contribute to the successful delivery of [the] Perth Harbour Business Plan, raising profile and sales through marketing and promotion activities including working closely with council’s investment team and estates and commercial investment team.

“I am pleased to see this project moving forward and hope that it will be a positive milestone for the future of Perth Harbour.”

Interested parties have until March 12 to bid for the contract put out to tender last week.