Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Viking wind farm boost for Shetland’s main port

Lerwick Port's ferry and cruise ship passengers up 24%, fish landings better by 1%.

Lerwick harbour activity was positively impacted by the arrival of Viking wind farm components in the first half of 2023.
Lerwick harbour activity was positively impacted by the arrival of Viking wind farm components in the first half of 2023. Image: Shetland Flyer Aerial

Construction work on the huge Viking wind farm in Shetland boosted activity levels at Lerwick Port during the first six months of 2023.

Bosses today reported a big upturn in activity levels.

Most of the performace indicators were ahead of last year, in some cases markedly so.

For example, there was a 24% jump in the number of ferry and cruise ship passengers using the port, to 108,732. Figures for 2021 reflected business still recovering from the impact of the Covid pandemic.

‘Encouraging’ first half figures

Lerwick Port Authority (LPA) said operations across the board returned to, or in some sectors, exceeded pre-Covid levels in the first half of 2023.

LPA chief executive Calum Grains said: “The encouraging first half figures continued the recovery to pre-covid levels, reflecting positive contributions made by recent energy sector project activity.”

The Norwegian Getaway in Lerwick.
The Norwegian Getaway arriving in Lerwick. Image: Lerwick Port Authority

Growth in Shetland’s cruise industry has delivered a record season this year, as well as “strong” visitor numbers supporting the islands’ marine tourism sector, Mr Grains said.

He added: “Significant efforts were focused on port preparations for the return of the Tall Ships Races in July.

“The period also saw positive engagements with developers on the potential for future marine support for wind farm projects.”

LPA chief executive, Calum Grains.
LPA chief executive, Calum Grains.

There were 2,432 vessel arrivals during the six months to June – an 11% increase overall, compared with the same period last year. A breakdown of the headline figure shows there were increases of 15% for fishing vessels and 6% in oil-related shipping.

Overall tonnage of nearly six million gross tons, was up 0.6% on the H1 2022 total.

The  positive impact on 2023 numbers from shipments linked to Viking, which will boast 103 wind turbines, each more than 500ft tall, followed a one-off boost from the delivery of the Ninian Northern jacket for an oil and gas decommissioning job last year.

Fish landings in Lerwick ‘steady’

But there were reductions in cargo in the latest period, down 3% at around 425,000 tonnes overall and lower by 7% for roll-on/roll-off freight. The treansportation of sand and aggregates to the Viking project in the central mainland of Shetland boosted cargo numbers last year.

There were 123,180 boxes of white-fish landed at Lerwick in the first half of 2023, a 1% increase on a year ago. LPA said fish landings “remain steady”, with market prices “holding”.

Conversation