Harbour plan review with £240,000 loss predicted this year

Council chiefs have ordered a review of Perth harbour after a decline in shipping traffic.

Perth and Kinross Council will explore new commercial opportunities to safeguard the port for future generations.

The local authority has stressed it is committed to £870,000 of dredging work, which is likely to begin next year.

Members of the strategic policy and resources committee were told the contract would go out to tender, but only after a Marine Scotland licence was issued.

Council leader Ian Campbell said: “Last year, the council agreed the Perth harbour business plan which included a significant capital investment.

“Since the business plan was agreed, much in the world has changed and the board is now reporting that a number of the original assumptions have shifted which require us to review the business plan viability.

“The coastal shipping market which was meant to provide the main income stream to pay back the investment is reducing across the UK as the industry consolidates into bigger ships and larger ports. The impact of this is that the period of repayments of prudential borrowing would have to be extended significantly beyond an acceptable depreciation period.”

He said the council would now “widen the search for commercial opportunities and explore other business models” before reviewing the position early next year.

A new study revealed the number of ships calling at the city had plummeted from 300 a decade ago to just 20.

The 2016 business plan proposed that £954,000 of investment – including dredging – could see the harbour break even by 2021.

However, experts predict a net loss of nearly £240,000 this year and say if the business plan is not revised the harbour is unlikely to recover costs before 2034, if at all.

Statistics show freight traffic has considerably reduced across the UK in the last 10 years.