Commenting on the year ahead, Forth Ports Group CEO Stuart Wallace says that Forth Ports is working closely with both the Scottish and UK governments and with the Forth Green Freeport partners to maximise the opportunities that a green freeport status can bring.
With the recently announced £50m investment, Forth Ports has already privately invested more than £150 million in preparing its ports, including the Port of Dundee and the Port of Leith, to serve the growing offshore wind renewables sector.
This private capital, Wallace points out, can be supplemented by Government through the tax incentives companies inside the green freeport development areas can benefit from.
“We are grateful to both governments for the support to turn green freeports in Scotland into a reality. For our part, we have put in a lot of work into identifying the markets that we want to be in. We are also very confident that we have the capacity to support the growth of these markets,” he says.
The level of Fort Ports’ commitment can be seen from the scale of the recent investments it has made. “We continue to invest in dedicated infrastructure across our ports. Our new, large-scale, purpose-built offshore renewables hubs at Dundee and Leith will help Scotland and the UK to develop its offshore wind industry supply chain capacity,” Wallace says.
He points out that Forth Ports is already supporting a pipeline of offshore wind projects. These will play a key role in delivering the country’s net zero, energy security and renewables targets, he says.
On 12 December, Forth Ports announced that it was investing a further £50 million of its own money in the Port of Leith.
This investment came on the back of the company securing its largest ever offshore wind contract, the delivery of the 1.1 GW Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm. Inch Cape will be sited off the Angus Coast and will utilise Forth Ports’ newly created renewable energy hubs at the ports of Leith and Dundee.
The investment is aimed at enhancing the port’s marine access, infrastructure and vessel assets via their specialist towage company, Targe Towing. It includes funding the plant and equipment that will be used to deliver Inch Cape. It will also create up to 50 new and upskilled green energy jobs to support the project.
Commenting on the investment whilst on a recent visit to the Port of Leith, Deputy First Minister, Kate Forbes, said: “This is why the Scottish Budget commits £150 million to support offshore wind infrastructure and supply requirements.” The £150 million has been allocated precisely to attract the kind of private investment that Forth Ports has announced, she noted.
The investment in the Port of Leith follows an investment of £40 million Forth Ports made in 2022 in the Port of Dundee to develop the port as an renewables hub. The Port is currently the marshalling and assembly hub for the construction of EDF Renewables and ESB’s major offshore wind farm, Neart na Gaoithe (NnG). The project achieved the milestone of its first power generation in October.
Wallace comments: “Our strategy has been to create and build market ready renewable energy hubs ahead of market demand. This, along with the other specialist facilities we have delivered and our end-to-end marine and port service offering, puts us in a prime position to handle large offshore wind projects.”
“In addition to the newly finished deep water berth at Leith, we will also be doing a significant amount of dredging work to deepen the approach channel to accommodate very large offshore wind vessels. We’re also investing in heavy lift equipment to enable us to move large components around as required.
“Plus we’ve commissioned a new marine tug which will be used by the vessels working on the Inch Cape project. We expect the tug to arrive at the beginning of the second quarter this year and we’ll be recruiting the crew for the tug. Those people will be part of the 50 employees we’re going to recruit to deliver the Inch Cape project,” Wallace comments.
As part of the commissioning trial of the new deep water berth at Leith, Forth Ports hosted the Carnival Legend cruise vessel at the berth in July last year.
Wallace points out that this visit was a one-off, as far as the use of the berth by cruise ships is concerned, since the berth needs to be available on an ‘as needed’ basis by the Inch Cape project.
But the 88,500-tonne cruise vessel, which carries around 3,000 passengers and crew, enabled Forth Ports to complete its first full, marine trial of the new outer berth.
Built to accommodate the world’s largest offshore renewables support vessels, Leith’s outer berth, named the Charles Hammond Berth, features a heavy lift capability of up to 100 tonnes per square metre (t/m2). This is backed up by 175 acres of adjacent land for associated renewables logistics, marshalling and manufacturing.
“This is a hugely important time for both Forth Ports and Scotland. We are in the process of making a just transition from oil and gas to renewable energy, with much of that coming from offshore wind. Forth Ports has been at the core of the oil and gas sector for decades in the Forth and Tay estuaries.
“We are still handling oil-related and chemical products at the same time as we are moving forward in the renewables space. This is a great illustration of how the just transition works,” Wallace notes.
Commenting more generally on how the past year has gone for Forth Ports, Wallace pointed out that the Port of Grangemouth is Scotland’s main logistics hub. “We saw steady flows of goods through the port in 2024 and that is continuing. We extended the value-added services we provide for clients and we are now at the next stage of warehouse development at the port. With road, rail and sea links, along with being situated in the middle of the country, Grangemouth is here to help Scotland grow as an exporting country,” Wallace says.
Forth Ports has made a significant investment in tractors and trailers to move bulk agriculture products to where they are needed in all its ports. “This equipment all has to be certified in terms of cleanliness, it needs TASCC approval and we are making sure that everything has the right classification,” he comments.
Cruise ship visits hit an all-time high in 2024, not just for Forth Ports, but for the UK and Scotland as well. “Bookings are going well for this year and for 2026 as well, and on into 2027.”
Wallace has now passed the six-month milestone heading up Forth Ports, having taken over from
Charlie Hammond OBE, the previous CEO, in July 2024. “I am honoured to have been asked to take on this position. Forth Ports will continue to evolve and grow and I look forward to leading the business for years to come,” he said.
This article is brought to you in partnership with The Herald’s Scotland;s Ports supplement
