Wednesday 28 November 2018

The Port of Cromarty Firth board on 26th November 2018, announced a new quayside expansion, costing a record £30 million. This follows the recent announcement of a £10 million contract from Moray East Offshore Windfarm to become the intermediate port for their 95-turbine development. The new quayside will generate over 140 new jobs across the Highlands and Islands.

The new 218m quayside and 9 acres of laydown area has been designed as a new energy and cruise hub and will be completed by 2020. It will not only be able to accommodate large scale renewable, decommissioning and oil and gas projects, it will also be able to berth the largest cruise ships currently being designed and built.

This will be the second quayside and laydown area built by the Port in three years. In 2015/16, the Port invested £25m in a new 150m quayside and 9 acre laydown area, which contributed to their most successful year in 2017.

The new quayside will be funded jointly by the Port and HIE, including support from the European Regional Development Fund, and with help from the commercial lender RBS.

HIE has approved £7.75m grant funding to the project over the coming years. £2.3m of this total is being contributed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and an application for a further £800,000 ERDF funding is under consideration. The HIE package also includes £2m of additional funding from the Scottish Government.