The Scottish Government

This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007

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Port development prospects strong

19/08/2004

International container ports at Hunterston and Scapa Flow would both be in a very strong position to compete in a fast-growing market, according to research published today.

The Napier University report has found that the proposed developments would offer significant benefits for major shipping companies and be a huge boost for the local and Scottish economies.

It also makes clear that they would serve different markets and not be in direct competition.

Transport Minister Nicol Stephen said:

"The market for international container ports is rapidly expanding, mainly because of increased trade with China and the Far East.

"This report confirms that Hunterston and Scapa Flow are both well-placed to prosper from the growing demand, and that all of Scotland would benefit.

"Targeting different markets, Hunterston and Scapa Flow offer sgnificant cost and time savings for major ships companies.

"They also have ease of access, environmental and safety advantages over other existing and planned container ports across the UK and Northern Europe.

"There is no doubt that the development of these ports would be a major economic boost across the country. They would help Scottish industry to compete and attract direct foreign investment. New jobs would be created in Orkney and Ayrshire.

"Investment decisions and funding arrangements will be a matter for the port authorities and shipping operators. We are working closely with all parties involved to promote the developments to shipping operators."

The Minister today discussed the developments planned for Hunterston and Scapa Flow when he met senior management of the Port Authority for Zeebrugge in Belgium.

He toured the ro-ro ferry facilities, and the short sea inter European freight and deep sea container facilities.

The container port report was commissioned by Scottish Enterprise in association with the Executive and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

It concludes that:

• Demand is forecast to more than double in the Northern European containerport market between 2001-2015, particularly because of the growth in trade with the Far East
• There is likely to be a need for significant additional countainerport capacity to serve, in particular, the UK import/ export market, and the Baltic/ Scandinavia transhipment markets
• Hunterston would be expected to serve the UK import/ export market. Scapa Flow would be expected to serve the Scandinavia/ Baltic transhipment market
• There will be a particular demand for ports which can safely and reliably accommodate a new generation of larger vessels. Natural deep water access channels and lower cost land for expansion are key strengths of both Hunterston and Scapa Flow
• Both ports would offer the significant time and cost savings in their likely markets compared to Rotterdam and other planned developments in the UK and Northern Europe
• There would be major environmental gains from developing both ports because of the avoidance of channel dredging. Scapa Flow would not impact on road and rail container traffic, and transport around Hunsterston is less congested than around southern ports

Mary McLaughlin, Director of Transport at Scottish Enterprise, said:

"The potential economic development opportunities of capturing a share of the international deep sea container traffic has been of interest to us for some time and this report confirms our belief that Scotland is well placed - literally - to capitalise on this growing industry."

Donald MacNeill, senior transport policy manager with Highlands and Islands Enterprise, said:

"We are now seeing the construction of the next generation of larger vessels which will require deep water access and trans-shipment facilities such as Hunterston and Scapa Flow could deliver.

"If the vision of a trans-shipment hub can be realised at Scapa Flow, it would complement developments at Hunterston and have a significant impact on the Orkney economy."

Almost half of all Northern European deep-sea containerport activity in 2001 was accounted for by Far East trade, with about one third for North/ Central America.

This compares with 39.1 per cent for the Far East and 40.3 per cent for North/ Central America in 1991.

By 2010, almost one third of all loaded containers worldwide are expected to trade with China.

Hunterston and Scapa Flow are currently among several planned schemes in the UK and the rest of Europe to establish new container transhipment capacity.

The report, Container Transhipment and Demand for Container Terminal Capacity in Scotland, was written by Professor Alf Baird of the Transport Research Institute at Napier University.