More than 60% of the Port of Aberdeen's £400 million South Harbour development is now operational, marking the project's penultimate construction milestone, the port said in a statement on Thursday.
The handover from construction to operations for Dunnottar, Crathes, and Castlegate (East) Quays was completed this week.
Castlegate (West) is scheduled to open in December 2022, and the remaining Balmoral Quay will be brought into service in Q2 2023, making Aberdeen the largest berthage port in Scotland, the port said.
"More than 25 vessels have berthed at Aberdeen South Harbour during a ‘soft start’ to operations which began in July. A host of new and existing customers have already benefitted from Aberdeen’s safe and efficient port services and generous quayside space," the Port of Aberdeen said.
The South Harbour expansion will: add 1.4km of deepwater berthage; accommodate ships up to 300 meters long, incorporate extensive heavy-lift zones up to 15 tonnes/m2; offer 125,000m2 of flexible laydown space and expansive project areas.
"South Harbour is the largest marine infrastructure project underway in the UK and an asset of national strategic significance, included in the Scottish Government and UK Government’s NPF3 planning framework and Scotland’s draft NPF4. The expanded Port of Aberdeen is at the heart of the North East Scotland Green Freeport bid, which could create up to 32,000 high-quality jobs, boost GVA by £8.5 billion and transform the region into the ‘Net Zero Capital of Europe’," the port's statement issued Thursday reads.
Bob Sanguinetti, Chief Executive, Port of Aberdeen, said: “I’m delighted with the continued progress of our port expansion. This is an exciting time at South Harbour as it has now moved from being largely a construction project to an operational harbor. We look forward to welcoming new and existing customers to the port, while we complete the safe and efficient construction of the project.
“South Harbour will be at the heart of the development and expansion of high-potential sectors, including offshore wind, green hydrogen, and decommissioning. When we reach the full potential of our expanded Port, it will bolster the regional and national economies by £2.4 billion GVA and support 17,500 jobs both local to the port and further afield.”