Ardersier Port Haventus Limited , the owner of Ardersier Port, has secured a £100m joint credit facility, made up of £50m each from the Scottish National Investment Bank and UK Infrastructure Bank.

The facility aims to underpin the creation of an infrastructure facility to support industrial-scale deployment of fixed and floating offshore wind.

Construction has now begun on the site, which includes the development of a new 650-metre quay wall and associated quayside.

Based in the Moray Firth, Ardersier Port is well located to support offshore wind developers and manufacturers of offshore wind components and equipment, as the circa 35 GW of ScotWind and INTOG project pipeline is built out.

Sitting within the Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport, Ardersier should be able to offer a 450-acre site with quayside access and suitable infrastructure for marshalling, integration, manufacturing, and assembly of offshore wind.

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Civil engineering contractors are being invited to express interest in working on upgrades at the Hunterston Port and Resource Campus (PARC) construction yard in North Ayrshire.

The former coal port is being redeveloped by its owner, Peel Ports Group Clydeport. Much of the site is already under option, including for an undersea energy cable factory.

Peel has already begun local statutory consultation processes, including public consultations, before submitting applications for planning permission and the other licences and permits that will need to be in place before work can start.

Peel Ports Clydeport is keen to talk to contractors ahead of any formal procurement process. It has this week issued a periodic indicative notice (PIN) soliciting registrations of interest.

The PIN goves no indication of likely contract value.

Port director James McSporran said: “In support of Hunterston’s ongoing operations, and our proposals to transform the construction yard into a facility suitable for servicing offshore renewables, the issuing of this PIN will allow us to explore the market with a view to launching a competitive tender process for the works at a later date.

“Our vision for Hunterston PARC is of a nationally significant energy and marine campus, bringing together leading industry operators, world-class universities and the latest innovators to deliver technological advances in areas such as power generation and aquaculture.”

Contractors are invited to register their interest through the ‘Find a Tender’ platform. Procurement discussions will take place this year with a view to there being an invitation to tender later this year or early in 2025.

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Following a competitive, international selection process, the Port of London Authority (PLA) has signed a contract with British family-run company, Goodchild Marine Services Ltd, to build a new pilot vessel.

With 95 miles of the tidal Thames under its jurisdiction, the PLA, the UK’s largest port, is investing significantly in its people, infrastructure and equipment to meet increasing demand for its pilotage services as its customers and terminals continue to grow.

This winning tender follows Goodchild Marine’s success during London International Shipping Week, where it was honoured twice at the 2023 National Maritime SME Awards, collecting the awards for “Best Family Business” and overall winner of the “National Maritime SME Business of the Year”.

This vessel acquisition represents a small part of the largest capital investment plan for the PLA in over 20 years. Supporting their customers’ future growth plans, this investment plan is key to delivering the PLA’s Thames Vision; to be the UK’s leading Net Zero port by 2040.

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His Majesty’s Naval Base (HMNB) Portsmouth has initiated a project with Smarter Technologies, a British Internet-of-Things (IoT) solutions provider, to improve the operational efficiency of the port.

The project involves the use of Smarter Technologies‘ Orion IoT Data Network to address the challenges faced by the port, which is home to a significant portion of the Royal Navy’s surface fleet and experiences around 130,000 significant movements annually.

The Infrastructure Asset Management team at HMNB Portsmouth has incorporated this technology to better manage the complex and historic naval base. The introduction of depth sensors in the dockyard’s basins and transit locks is a key aspect of this project. These sensors provide real-time data on water levels, allowing for more informed decisions regarding the operation of locks and pumps.

This technology has enabled the Asset Management and Waterfront teams at HMNB Portsmouth to optimize water levels and reduce unnecessary pumping operations, leading to operational efficiencies. The data from the sensors is accessible through a dashboard, facilitating immediate and evidence-based decision-making.

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The UK government has committed to ensuring that national planning policy ‘reflects the needs and priority’ of freeports and investment zones.

This would give local planning authorities and businesses “greater certainty and clarity”, according to the Freeports Delivery Roadmap.

It features more than 50 cross-government measures, including a £150 million Investment Opportunities Fund to help freeports and investment zones respond quickly to land large investment opportunities as they arise, to “further accelerate much-needed trade and investment in key port areas across the country”.

The roadmap states: “The government will ensure that relevant national planning policy reflects the needs and priority of freeports and investment zones, giving local planning authorities and businesses greater certainty and clarity.”

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Britain will implement a new carbon import levy on some products from 2027 to help to protect businesses against cheaper imports from countries with less strict climate policies.

The planned carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) will apply to carbon-intensive products in the iron, steel, aluminium, fertiliser, hydrogen, ceramics, glass and cement sectors.

The charge applied will depend on the amount of carbon emitted in the production of the imported good and any gap between the carbon price applied in the country of origin and the carbon price faced by UK producers.

“This levy will make sure carbon intensive products from overseas – like steel and ceramics – face a comparable carbon price to those produced in the UK, so that our decarbonisation efforts translate into reductions in global emissions,” finance minister Jeremy Hunt said.

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Britain will implement a new carbon import levy on some products from 2027 to help to protect businesses against cheaper imports from countries with less strict climate policies.

The planned carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) will apply to carbon-intensive products in the iron, steel, aluminium, fertiliser, hydrogen, ceramics, glass and cement sectors.

The charge applied will depend on the amount of carbon emitted in the production of the imported good and any gap between the carbon price applied in the country of origin and the carbon price faced by UK producers.

“This levy will make sure carbon intensive products from overseas – like steel and ceramics – face a comparable carbon price to those produced in the UK, so that our decarbonisation efforts translate into reductions in global emissions,” finance minister Jeremy Hunt said.

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RWE – the UK’s largest power generator and a world player in renewable generation, Mitsui & Co., Ltd. – a global trading and investment company with a diversified business portfolio that spans approximately 63 countries, and the Port of Tilbury London and the South East’s logistics hub, are developing an innovative hydrogen project at the Port of Tilbury in Essex as part of a recently signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) for two green hydrogen projects.

Hydrogen has a crucial role to play in helping the UK achieve its 2050 Net Zero ambitions and is an essential component for decarbonising different industrial sectors.

Through the MoU, the organisations will complete two parallel work streams:

A small scale ‘proof of concept’ demonstrator project to produce green hydrogen for decarbonising items of port equipment by switching from fossil fuels to hydrogen.

An initial study into a 10 megawatt green hydrogen plant. The facility will be developed on Port of Tilbury land previously housing a coal-fired power station, transforming an area historically associated with fossil fuel power generation to green hydrogen production, at the heart of the Thames Freeport.

The project will also look at options to scale up development over a ten year period upwards of 100 megawatts. The hydrogen would be used for port infrastructure and operations in addition to providing green hydrogen to the surrounding industry.

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The UK Infrastructure Bank is to help boost local and regional growth across the North East by committing up to £50 million to the Port of Tyne’s regeneration and expansion plans.

The Bank’s financing will enable the regeneration and redevelopment of the land that will provide a base for the growing number of green industries in the area, including offshore wind, which supports the UK’s transition to net zero and long-term energy security ambitions.

The regeneration and redevelopment projects will help the Port move towards a cleaner and greener future. As one of the largest employers in the region, the Port provides 12,000 jobs, and UKIB’s financing will help ensure these jobs continue to be supported.

UKIB’s investment will help the Port deliver its ‘Tyne 2050’ strategic plan to become net zero by 2030, and position the River Tyne as a gateway for both regional and maritime transformation, fully aligned to the UK government’s Maritime 2050 strategy and the North East Economic plan.

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Port of Aberdeen, in partnership with Subsea7, has secured a grant of £150,000 from The Scottish Government to investigate the feasibility of storing hydrogen underwater at the new Aberdeen South Harbour.

The ‘H2Shore – Hydrogen coastal storage and distribution’ project will conduct thorough engineering analyses to determine the most effective technological approach and identify an appropriate offshore location. Additionally, the project will develop an outline business case.

Energy consultancy firm, Xodus, is tasked with scrutinising the necessary distribution and bunkering requirements, with a focus on equipment, processes, and operating procedures.

This study is among 32 projects to receive funding from the Hydrogen Innovation Scheme, a programme dedicated to fostering innovation in renewable hydrogen production, storage, and distribution.

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