{"id":212984,"date":"2025-05-08T16:00:53","date_gmt":"2025-05-08T06:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.worldcargonews.com\/?p=76288"},"modified":"2025-05-08T16:00:53","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T06:00:53","slug":"scotland-gets-new-offshore-energy-facility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=212984","title":{"rendered":"Scotland gets new offshore energy facility"},"content":{"rendered":"

An offshore renewable energy berth has formally opened at the Port of Leith, Edinburgh, on Scotland\u2019s East Coast. It\u2019s part of a diversified portfolio of operations at the port. The new deep water riverside berth has been named the Charles Hammond Berth, after their recently retired CEO of 23 years.<\/strong>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Designed to host the world\u2019s largest offshore wind turbine installation vessels, the berth is part of an investment of more than GB\u00a3100 million into transforming the Port of Leith into a world-class renewables hub. The Charles Hammond Berth was completed last year (2024). Later this year will play a pivotal role in the delivery of the Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm. This will be the Port of Leith\u2019s largest ever offshore wind contract and is creating up to 50 new and upskilled green energy jobs at Forth Ports to support the project.<\/p>\n

Largest ever offshore wind contract<\/h2>\n

Forth Ports new deep water riverside berth at the Port of Leith is designed to host the world\u2019s largest offshore wind construction vessels. It was formally opened in late April and has been named the Charles Hammond Berth\u00a0in honour of the company\u2019s former Chief Executive. Hammond, who stepped down from the role in 2024 after 23 years, unveiled a specially commissioned sculpture at the berth. The structure, created by a local Scottish craftsman, is fashioned from a reclaimed wind turbine blade.<\/p>\n

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L-R: CEO Stuart Wallace and predecessor Charles Hammond<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To date, Forth Ports say they have invested more than GB\u00a3100 million of private funds into transforming the Port of Leith into a world-class renewables hub. The facility is already playing a key role in supporting Scotland\u2019s energy transition. The Charles Hammond Berth, completed last year, will be instrumental in the delivery of the Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm. This will be the Port of Leith\u2019s largest ever offshore wind contract. CEO Stuart Wallace and predecessor Charles Hammond celebrated the official opening (pictured by Jamie Simpson\/Forth Ports).<\/p>\n

World-class infrastructure<\/h2>\n

Stuart Wallace, the current Chief Executive of the Forth Ports Group, said the berth had been created ahead of market demand. \u201cWe have created a world-class piece of infrastructure for Scotland as the nation starts to deliver the first wave of larger offshore wind projects taking shape in the North Sea,\u201d he said. \u201cThis, alongside our investment in the Port of Dundee, has created two purpose-built assembly terminals to meet the immediate needs of Scotland\u2019s offshore wind sector. These assets are part of Forth Ports\u2019 vision aimed at addressing the UK\u2019s port capacity required for the deployment of these projects, keeping the activity here in Scotland and the UK.\u00a0 This port infrastructure will be here for the long term and will become part of our sustainable future.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Port of Leith from above, wind fabrication yard top. CGI from Forth Ports.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Very much retaining its own identity, Leith was a separate civic entity until its amalgamation with Edinburgh just over a century ago. \u201cDuring my time as Chief Executive, Leith and its port have gone through significant\u00a0change,\u201d said the former chief executive Charles Hammond. \u201cHowever,\u00a0this investment in the new\u00a0renewables\u00a0berth is the biggest transformation of the port in a generation. There is\u00a0a\u00a0real\u00a0opportunity to see a significant pipeline of projects delivered from here, creating economic benefit for Leith, Edinburgh and Scotland as well as assisting the UK in achieving its Net Zero targets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Generate jobs and increase trade<\/h2>\n

The berth features a heavy lift capability of up to 100 tonnes per square metre (t\/m2), backed up by 175 acres of adjacent land for associated renewables logistics, marshalling and manufacturing. This latest investment in infrastructure at the Port of Leith will enhance the port\u2019s marine access, infrastructure and vessel assets and includes 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. As a designated Green Freeport, Leith has already been at the forefront of developments, including a hydrogen fuel initiative reported earlier this year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There is a strong presence of construction customers already in the Port of Leith. \u201cWe want to expand the Leith construction hub to offer efficient solutions and savings in logistics to the industry,\u201d say Forth Ports<\/a>. Scottish government sources say the Leith Renewables Hub is part of the Forth Green Freeport\u2019s strategically located tax sites, which aim to reindustrialise Central Scotland. They say it will help generate thousands of high-quality green jobs by increasing trade and supporting the growth of businesses across the Firth of Forth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An offshore renewable energy berth has formally opened at the Port of Leith, Edinburgh, on Scotland\u2019s East Coast. It\u2019s part of a diversified portfolio of\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":76292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12152,16627,1758,2305,5739,16628,471,16629,12339,16589,1781,16630,85],"tags":[12159],"class_list":["post-212984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-commerce-miscellaneous","category-charles-hammond","category-edinburgh","category-environment","category-forth-ports","category-leith-renewables-hub","category-news","category-offshore-wind","category-ports-terminals","category-project-cargo-heavy-lift","category-scotland","category-stuart-wallace","category-uk","tag-world-cargo-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=212984"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212984\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":213336,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212984\/revisions\/213336"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=212984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=212984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=212984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}