Floating ideas for the future
THE regeneration of the port and 160m dry dock at Kishorn – one of the biggest in western Europe – offers great potential for the aquaculture industry, said Alasdair Ferguson.
It is currently in use for oil and gas decommissioning, and the renewables sector, and could be a construction site for large offshore farm concepts, such as the SalMar Ocean Farm.
‘You could manufacture large concrete or steel structures in the dry dock,’ said Ferguson. ‘Our joint venture partner in Kishorn - Leiths Scotland Limited - has a quarry on site, with 6.5 million tonnes of suitable aggregate available for subsea concrete.’
The dock has an 80m deep channel in Loch Kishorn and there is access to 100m deep berths in Raasay Sound.
‘We’ve just put in an order with Gael Force (for over £1 million) for the anchors for the gates, so when we take the gates out of the dock, we can moor them, and then we can take structures in and out of the dock, and float them straight up the west coast.
‘We have to keep one eye on this market and make sure that, in time, we speak to the right people to promote and highlight that we have these facilities in Scotland.’
Alasdair Ferguson will be at the Aqua Nor exhibition in Norway later this month – his second visit to the show – to promote all his company’s services, including those at Kishorn.
Looking ahead, he thinks some of the bigger Scottish producers might be able to make use of the dry dock, which is available for rent for manufacturing to any sector.
There are facilities available for on-site accommodation, and a community of around 100-125 people are working in and around the port and dry dock area on a regular basis now.
‘We have Akva building fish farm cages with about 20 people on site, the Scottish Salmon Company hatchery, Kishorn fabrication and boat yard, Leiths quarry, along with other contractors for mooring upgrades and other port based, marine activities.
‘There is a lot happening at the site now and in the loch, whereas ten years ago this was not necessarily the case.’