More than 60% of Port of Aberdeen’s £400 million South Harbour development is operational, bosses said today.
They are celebrating the penultimate construction milestone in the “transformational” project.
A handover from construction to operations for the Dunnottar, Crathes and Castlegate East quays was completed this week.
Castlegate West is scheduled to open next month and the remaining Balmoral Quay will be brought into service in Q2 2023, making Aberdeen the largest berthage port in Scotland.
Key shift for harbour
Port of Aberdeen chief executive Bob Sanguinetti said: “I’m delighted with the continued progress of our port expansion.
“This is an exciting time at South Harbour as it has now moved from being largely a construction project to an operational harbour.
“We look forward to welcoming new and existing customers to the port, while we complete the safe and efficient construction of the project.”
He added: “South Harbour will be at the heart of the development and expansion of high potential sectors, including offshore wind, green hydrogen and decommissioning.
“When we reach the full potential of our expanded port, it will bolster the regional and national economies by £2.4 billion GVA (gross value added) and support 17,500 jobs both local to the port and further afield.”
Soft start
More than 25 vessels have berthed at South Harbour during a “soft start” to operations which started in July.
The port’s bosses said a host of new and existing customers had already benefitted from the facility’s “safe and efficient port services and generous quayside space”.
Once complete, the expansion will add nearly a mile of deepwater berthage and accommodate ships up to 985ft long.
Aberdeen South Harbour is the largest marine infrastructure project under way in the UK.
The development suffered a major blow during 2020 when lead contractor Dragados UK pulled out of the scheme.
By then the initial £350m contract had swollen in value due to additional works required to complete the work.