Maritime experts from Edinburgh Napier University’s Transport Research Institute (TRI) have unveiled a plan to develop a floating container port for Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands.
They estimate that the floating hub, which consists of a large storage vessel fitted with cranes, could nearly double the current £16bn value of Scotland’s exports of manufactured goods.
Prof Alf Baird, a maritime business expert, led the university’s involvement in the European Union-funded project in collaboration with German crane manufacturer Gottwald Port Technology.
He said: ’The hub could handle goods for perhaps more than 20 countries in Europe, which would then be transhipped via the new terminal. Most of Europe’s seafood, for example, is produced nearby in Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Norway, Russia and Greenland — traffic that could be consolidated in Scotland into refrigerated containers for distribution worldwide via the container hub.’
The Scottish government has identified the economic importance of developing a container transhipment terminal at Scapa Flow, whose location at the crossroads between the North Sea and Atlantic ocean is seen as ideal for the venture.
At around €40m (£35m), the proposed floating port — designated the Floating Container Storage and Transhipment Terminal or FCSTT — would cost around €80m less to build than a conventional land-based port offering similar capacity.
’This is a low-cost solution that helps make the terminal easier to develop,’ said Baird, who has already had interest from Latin America, the US and Norway in the TRI proposal.
’It is a design concept that could also be employed in many other parts of the world as an alternative to high-cost concrete terminals, in turn minimising environmental impacts in sensitive coastal areas,’ he added.
Years ago a floating DRI plant was envisaged to minimise expenditure on pipelines to shore. With modern designs I am sure it will work. Design for hurricanes and tsnunami
Perhaps call it a ‘Mulberry Port’. Ex-oil tankers would make a good, perhaps cheap, platform, with ‘open-plan’ interiors ready made for container handling and refrigeration equipment installation. As long as anchorages are well planned and secure, Tsunami’s and Hurricanes are a minor issue for a naturally bouyant platform.
Congratulations on a forward looking plan. Three years ago, I wrote a letter to The Engineer advocating for offshore ports (“Depth Charges”, http://secure.theengineer.co.uk/Articles/304496/Depth+charges+.htm). Such facilities save our coastal environments from the pollution, erosion and other habitat loss ports cause. These can also help provide more port security for potential terrorists’ cargos. The economic advantages are well stated in the article, but do not account for those massive savings derived by not causing extensive coastal environment damage and the need to mitigate this.
sustainableshorelines.org
I hope the Orkney Islanders will look at FIPASS (Falkland Islands Port And Storage System) which served the Falkland Islanders for many years after the Falklands War. FIPASS might still be in use today. It had a ‘Mulberry’ type connection to the shore and consisted of six 5000 ton North Sea barges floating on the tide and secured by dolphins.
Some information FIPASS here
http://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/2010/12/the-future-of-the-royal-navy-11-logistics-and-support/
http://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/2010/05/ship-to-shore-logistics/
The US Maritime Administration (MARAD) has a number of large crane ships that are mothballed. Perhaps you can save money by procuring one of those?!