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SPOA visit to Kishorn Port
James Currie, SPOA committee member and director of Currie Contractors, recently visited Kishorn Port alongside 20 SPOA members, some travelling from as far afield as 250 miles, to see progress on its multimillion-pound transformation. Here, James shares details of the experience.
The Scottish Plant Owners Association was recently invited to Kishorn Port to see the current £42 million project by long term member RJ McLeod. The port is owned and run by Ferguson Transport and Shipping and Leiths Group, with an active public quarry also in operation.
Kishorn is one of Europe’s biggest dry docks, with many large-scale projects beginning there. In 1978, the Ninian Central Platform was made and floated out to sea from Kishorn Port, weighing 600,000 tons, it is still one of the largest man-made movable objects.
Currently Kishorn dry dock is being extended from 160 metres to 260 metres to facilitate larger vessels and renewable energy projects. The 1.2million tons of rock being excavated out of the dock is being used to make a new 10 hectare lay down area for storage of materials. The port also has large warehouses for dry storage.
During our visit, the day started with presentations from both Alasdair Ferguson, Director at Kishorn Port Limited (KPL), and Thomas Murray, Project Manager from RJ McLeod. We were shown slides and digital visuals of what the port will look like in the future and also given the history of the port. We were given a tour of the site in minibuses and viewed the large-scale project. During the visit, we discussed the challenges, some being the remoteness of the work location, lack of accommodation, narrow road networks and how staff were sourced. Once on site, the scale was larger than imagined in the dry dock and it was amazing looking up at the gates knowing that the Atlantic Ocean was pushing against it.
The £42 million project is six months into construction with another 12 months estimated for completion. RJ McLeod is focused on delivering this on time. The work undertaken by SPOA member RJ McLeod is transformational.
Once the project is complete, Kishorn Port will be capable of decommissioning even larger oil rigs, building bases for renewable energy and mooring renewable wind projects in the loch.
Feedback from SPOA members in attendance was great, many of whom had never had the opportunity to visit Kishorn Port before. A huge thank you to both RJ McLeod and KPL for the tour, we look forward to returning next year to see it completed.