Scotland’s Kishorn Port looks to capture share of decom market

Kishorn Port, located on the north west coast of Scotland, has invested around £500,000 ($607,000) in its dry dock, looking to capture a share of the decommissioning market. 

Kishorn Port Ltd, a joint venture between Ferguson Transport & Shipping and Leiths (Scotland) Ltd, has been working over the last eight years to identify markets that need access to sheltered deep water, big lay down areas and a large dry dock.

To date, this has included the offshore renewables industry, which has a requirement for the serial production of large concrete structures, and the oil and gas fabricators, particularly the oil and gas decommissioning sector.

The port claims that, whilst the oil and gas industry in the North Sea is currently facing difficult times, there is an expanding requirement to decommission facilities that are at the end of their economic life.

The projected cost of decommissioning the North Sea oil and gas infrastructure has been estimated at £75 billion and it continues to grow. According to Kishorn, to date, most of the large contracts have gone to yards elsewhere in Europe or Scandinavia, mainly because there is a shortage of adequate licensed facilities in Scotland.

‘Decommissioning ready’

Alasdair Ferguson, a KPL Director commented “If Scotland is to capture a share of this market, it is essential to invest in and bring on stream sites such as Kishorn and make them “decommissioning ready.” Dry docks are ideal for decommissioning floating structures in a contained environment, particularly if they can be accessed by super heavy lift vessels that need sheltered deep water up to 38 meters in depth where 70 meters is available to transship their loads.”

The port noted that proving and cycling the dry dock at Kishorn is just the first phase of its development. Licensing the yard for handling decommissioning projects is the next hurdle and consultation with the appropriate authorities has already started, Kishorn added.

Further development of its shore side facilities and infrastructure will be needed and Kishorn Port is actively seeking partners with decommissioning experience to work with it to take the yard forward into this expanding market.

Dry dock refurbishment

Harris Pye, a global engineering group, informed on Monday the company started its work on refurbishing the dock gates at Kishorn Port, last opened nearly 25 years ago.

This will be the first step in making them and the Kishorn dry dock, operational once more, Harris Pye said. The contract value is £340,000 and the work will be undertaken in a six-week period.

This dock was where the Ninian Central production platform was constructed in the late 1970s.

According to Chris David, Harris Pye’s Chief Technical Officer, the company will be in charge of floating the gate, which weighs in excess of 13,000 tonnes, replacing all areas of corroded steel and rubber seals, and repositioning the gate prior to pumping the dock out to test the integrity of the gates.

“We will also be strengthening the access road to the dock gate and replacing the flooding covers and fitting new seals on them,” David added.