Motorists faced delays today as a huge towhead bound for a North Sea oil field was hauled from Wick harbour.
The lorry carrying the hulking component was escorted by police as it inched its way through the town on the first leg of its journey to Subsea 7’s pipeline construction site at Wester, near Keiss.
The 285 ton load took more than four hours to travel from the harbour to Lochshell business park, just north of the town.
Before it could go ahead, overhead cables had to be moved and slight modifications made to the road network.
The operation is due to resume today when the towhead will be transferred to a special trailer to complete its journey to the yard.
The first, smaller towhead for the contract was moved on Friday.
The towheads are for the Buzzard field, more than 60 miles north-east of Aberdeen.
Together with two pipeline bundles – one 3.3 miles and the other 273 yards – they are due to launched in the late summer.
Towheads cause travel nightmare for Highland motorists