The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
‘Time is right’ for Scapa Flow plans
Development: Offshore port may double exports
Ambitious plans for an offshore container port in the northern isles are being examined in a feasibility study.
Orkney company Orcades Marine Management Consultants is looking at the prospects for a floating container storage and transhipment terminal in Scapa Flow.
It comes just a few years after plans for a new onshore terminal were shelved.
Orcades is convinced an offshore facility would be cheaper to build and operate, and could be installed relatively quickly.
David Thomson, the firm’s managing director, said: “Furthermore, a floating facility will not be just restricted to the transhipment and storage of containers.”
It could be used for a range of other shipping services, he added.
Orkney Islands Council considered the feasibility of an onshore terminal at Lyness about four years ago, but the idea was dropped due to the economic downturn and local opposition.
Mr Thomson said circumstances had changed since then, adding: “Four years on and with other countries now developing similar terminals, clearly the model is believed to be viable.”
Other factors, including the opening up of transArctic shipping routes, meant the time was “absolutely right” for the potential for a terminal in Scapa Flow to be investigated, he added.
The new blueprint now being studied by Orcades under the EU-funded Trans European Transport Networks and the North Sea project was first unveiled in April 2011 by maritime experts from Edinburgh’s Napier University.
It is believed the floating hub, which consists of a large storage vessel fitted with cranes, could nearly double the value of Scotland’s exports of manufactured goods and create jobs.
The initial research at Napier – the Strat MoS project – was also funded by the EU and carried out in partnership with German container crane manufacturer Gottwald Port Technology.