THE PORT of Nigg has unveiled its new East Quay, which, at 225m long and 50m wide, increases the leading port facility’s deep water quayside capacity to over 1,200m – placing it amongst the largest in the country.
Marine construction works for the East Quay commenced in April 2021, in the midst of the pandemic, with construction contractor, Farrans Construction, delivering the quay on schedule and on budget. The quay will be Port of Nigg’s main quayside for shipping activities while also giving it the flexibility of having quaysides available if they take the dock dry for a major project.
The opening of the new quay is set to be a game changer for the Port of Nigg, enabling it to service multiple large scale Energy sector projects simultaneously and ensuring the port facility has the required infrastructure in place to accommodate the demands for future floating offshore wind sector opportunities.
Speaking about the unveiling of the new quay, which has welcomed its first vessel – the Boa Sub C – which is loading out structures fabricated at Nigg for the oil and gas industry, Rory Gunn, Facilities Director, said:
“Our new East Quay helps us better service our existing customer’s needs, in the renewables, oil and gas, and nuclear sectors, and the enhanced capabilities will assist us to attract inward investment with a vision to create long term skilled manufacturing jobs at our port which will become a National hub for the renewables industry. Operationally, the additional quay and associated laydown area provides us with a lot of flexibility, and this multi-million pound investment is further evidence of our commitment to ensure our facility is “best in class” for meeting both existing and future industry demands.”
“It will be a huge selling point for us when tendering for the next generation of floating offshore wind projects, with the additional deep-water quayside allowing us to do the fabrication and assembly of the floating hulls at the port’s South Quay area while the wind turbine integration onto the floating foundations is being conducted at the East Quay.”
Jonny Kerr, civil engineering operations director for Farrans Construction, said: “We are pleased to add this project to our extensive marine portfolio and we have worked closely with our client to ensure an on time and on budget completion. The East Quay of Nigg has been a strategically important project for Global Energy and our specialist knowledge of marine civil engineering has been critical in the smooth delivery.”
“Our work in the marine sector plays a critical role in supporting private and public sector organisations in the off-shore renewables industry, logistics, shipping and transportation and we have self-delivered some of the largest marine projects in the UK and Ireland.”
