Provision of ro-ro service

“In the September 1970 edition of the Dundee Chamber of Commerce Quarterly Journal, reference was made to the possibility of providing a ro-ro service from Dundee,” emails a reader with a background in Tayside shipping.

“The article also pointed to a ramp arrangement that had been designed by a company located in Greenock. Named Tidebridge, the equipment was intended to reduce initial costs of providing such facilities at port terminals.

“In September 1971, a feature article pointed to the potential benefits of a ferry service to the near continent, mainly for freight transportation. Headed ‘Dundee

– the Ideal Port for Europe’, it detailed the services already existing at other ports. There was also still a substantial volume of cargo from Scotland moving to Europe on conventional sailings and carried south over what was considered back then to be an inadequate road system.

“In February 1972, at the invitation of BP Petroleum Development Ltd, a fact-finding delegation from the Dundee Chamber visited Great Yarmouth. Attention was given to the opportunities presented by offshore drilling and support services, but advantage was also taken to observe the twice-daily Norfolk Line ro-ro service to Scheveningen in The Netherlands. The distance covered was only a 90-mile crossing. The operation was discussed with their traffic managers but at that point they were only interested in another route as far north as Teesport.

“In the September 1972 edition of the journal, a chamber correspondent pointed out: ‘With the redevelopment of Eastern Wharf it would have the potential to provide a ro-ro ramp arrangement ready to attract a ferry operator.’

“The chamber continued to take a keen interest in this matter, and in 1975, a further article reported that Dundee port personnel had conducted market research within Scotland and Scandinavia with a view to operating a service from the upgraded Princess Alexandra Wharf or from a new berth at Stannergate. However, it was almost a decade later before the short-lived Dundee-rotterdam was inaugurated.”

A Broughty Ferry reader sent in this photograph which shows Kirriemuir hand loom weavers circa 1900. They look like they are in a domestic setting, apart from the upright support in the foreground.

Maggie Anderson sent in this atmospheric shot of a misty morning at Camperdown Park, Dundee.