28 Nov 2019
A new anchoring system installation, designed to accommodate and secure the large concrete caisson gates of Kishorn Port’s Dry Dock facility, has been successfully deployed at the port in the West Highlands of Scotland.
Highland marine equipment firm Gael Force Group was awarded the £1m contract by Kishorn Port Ltd (KPL) to manage the specification, sourcing and delivery of mooring equipment for the dry dock facility. The moorings were designed to allow the gates to be safely secured whilst the dry dock is open.
The two dry dock gates are of a considerable size each measuring 83 metres in length and weighing 11,000 tonnes when floated. The Dock is believed to be amongst one of the largest in the world, with up to 13.8m MHWS. For the installation comprising two anchor arrays, 10 tonne High Holding Power Bruce Anchors were specified.
Gael Force subcontracted Green Marine (UK) Ltd to carry out the deployment and positioning of the equipment in Loch Kishorn. The in-house engineering team at Green Marine meticulously planned the operations and this, coupled with the highly skilled offshore team ensured that the project was completed safely and ahead of time.
Green Marine has a vast amount of experience in anchor handling works and has recently expanded its marine services by teaming up with Sustainable Marine Energy (SME) to bring a full suite of innovative and conventional anchoring and mooring solutions to customers worldwide. With this collaboration Green Marine is combining their excellence in marine operations with SMEs extensive experience in developing and installing anchoring solutions in some of the world’s harshest marine environments.
Commenting on the successful completion of the project, Sales Director Jamie Young said;
“This was a project of a significant magnitude and we are pleased that KPL placed their trust in us and our reputation as an experienced moorings supply partner. Our chosen installation partner Green Marine were completely professional in their approach to installation, carrying out their tasks on time and without issue. It is satisfying for us, as a Highland business, to be playing a part in the continued development of these first-class port and dry dock facilities in the area.”
Kishorn Dry Dock was recently refurbished, having been a site for major North Sea construction projects like the Ninian Central platform in the 1970s, and earlier this year hosted the world’s largest semi-submersible rig, the Ocean GreatWhite.
Owners, Kishorn Port Limited, said the ongoing investment to upgrade the dry dock strengthens its position for “major decommissioning projects for oil and gas assets and for construction of offshore floating wind structures”.
