The UK’s offshore wind ambitions are feeding into construction with the announcement yesterday of the newly rebranded Maraen Port of Nigg on the Cromarty Firth on Scotland’s east coast has awarded a $30m-plus contract to build a new quay as it gears up to support construction of vast Dogger Bank wind farms.

McLaughlin & Harvey won the job of building Nigg’s new, heavy-duty Eastern Inner Dock Quay, a project that will turn the existing rock revetment of the inner dock’s eastern side into a 16,000-sq-m, deep-water quayside set to bring roll-on, roll-off capability to the port.

It’ll be used for loading high voltage cable manufactured at the adjacent Sumitomo Electrics factory onto installation vessels.

Earlier this month, turbine-maker GE Vernova picked the port as a marshalling harbour for turbine components heading for Dogger Bank B and C phases.

The port has also been designated a Green Freeport tax and customs site.

Renewables revival

A bustling fabrication hub for the offshore oil and gas sector in the 1970s, the port fell into decline in the 2000s but has enjoyed a revival in the push for offshore renewables.

That suits the port’s new owners Mitsui & Co and Mitsui OSK Lines, which acquired the port last year, rebranding it “Maraen Port of Nigg” in March this year, with “mara” being the Gaelic word for sea and “en” denoting energy.

Combined, the Dogger Bank A, B and C schemes have been called the world’s biggest offshore wind farm.

They’ll have a total generating capacity of around 3.6GW, enough to power 6 million homes.

The developers, a joint venture between SSE, Equinor and Vårgrønn, secured £5.5bn in financing in late 2000.

The port can expect to compete for more wind business in the coming years after the government’s Round 7 Allocation in January resulted in strike-price agreements for units A of the Dogger Bank South East and South West wind schemes, each 1.5GW, and the nearby 1.38GW Berwick Bank B scheme.

More options for energy clients

McLaughlin & Harvey worked on the port previously, rebuilding its South Quay over 2014-15, a project that involved installing a 370m-long, combi-pile quay wall and building the 130m x 40m West Finger Quay.

That work started the port’s revival as a green energy logistics hub. In 2023 it was chosen as marshalling harbour for the 882MW, 60-turbine Moray West offshore wind farm.

“The new quay will provide our current and future customers with critical load in and load out options and greatly increases our deep-water quay availability,” said Rory Gunn, the port’s facilities director.

“This project is exactly the kind of targeted infrastructure that the energy industry needs from us and we are looking forward to delivering another successful capital investment project at our site.”