The UK’s largest marine infrastructure project has received a £30 million funding boost from the Scottish National Investment Bank (SNIB) as it prepares to go operational in the next few months.
The loan from the taxpayer-funded SNIB will strengthen Aberdeen Harbour’s position a key port hub following its £350m expansion to the south of the existing harbour. The project, which has been under construction since 2017, will provide greater land and water access for offshore wind providers and is expected to be a pivotal part of the supply chain for projects under the recently-announced ScotWind leasing round.
The expanded port is designed to handle larger, wider and deeper vessels. Bob Sanguinetti, chief executive of Aberdeen Harbour Board, said the support from SNIB reflects the port’s status as a “critical asset” in the future of Scotland’s industries.
READ MORE: Construction contracts worth £60 million awarded for Aberdeen Harbour expansion project
“The port will provide customers and port users with scalable and flexible infrastructure, making it ideal for space-intense industries such as offshore wind, decommissioning, cargo and cruise,” he said.
“We are months away from opening our South Harbour expansion and look forward to beginning operational trials in the port at the end of the summer.”
Aberdeen’s Energy Transition Zone (ETZ) – designed to accelerate the sector’s evolution to net-zero emissions – will be located adjacent to the South Harbour development. Together it is hoped they will create a critical mass of offshore engineering experience to maintain the north-east of Scotland as a centre of energy excellence.
READ MORE: Harbour is quay to a new era
“The bank is delighted to invest in Aberdeen Harbour and a project strongly aligned with its net-zero and place missions,” SNIB chief executive Eilidh Mactaggart said.
“The South Harbour project is a critical platform for the just transition in Scotland, delivering a high-specification facility which will shape industry in Aberdeen for decades to come and provide valuable space, as well as water access, for both offshore wind supply chain providers and offshore wind developers.”
The project has been funded to date by the European Investment Bank, Scottish Enterprise and the Aberdeen City Deal. Scottish Finance Secretary Kate Forbes said the additional support from SNIB is “extremely significant and welcome news”.
“This high-quality commercial investment will support the expansion of Aberdeen Harbour and has the potential to underpin Aberdeen and the north-east region’s role in securing a just transition to net-zero by 2045,” she said.
“As well as supporting greener energy production, this will also help us deliver the type of harbour infrastructure needed to help us capitalise on the huge economic potential of ScotWind.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel