Granite City bellwether, Aberdeen Harbour has recorded another set of healthy half-year figures that augur well for 2013 and beyond.
The port’s latest results that reveal a continued increase in vessel tonnage, both in terms of commercial sector and oil an gas-related traffic, and in turnover – up more than 5% for first half of the year – are a strong indicator of the wider prosperity currently being enjoyed by the Aberdeen city-region.
And that is being generated both by the North Sea and increasingly robust international business opportunities; the port has trading links with nearly 50 countries.
Vessel tonnage for the first six months of 2013 increased by 4.2% compared with the same period for 2012, with 13.86million tonnes of shipping transiting through the port, compared with 13.3million tonnes for H1 2012.
Commercial sector vessel tonnage increased by 4.1% and, similarly, oil and gas-related vessel tonnage increased by 4.3% for the same period.
The lift in oil and gas tonnage continues the upward trend of the past three years, bringing the cumulative rise to 23%. As a result of the increase in vessel tonnage, Aberdeen’s H1 2013 turnover increased 5.6% to £13.8million versus £13million H1 2012.
Port CEO Colin Parker said “Aberdeen Harbour Board are delighted to announce another six-month period of growth and, based on feedback from our clients, this trend appears likely to continue for some time to come.
“This is great news for the City and Shire, and highlights the increasing contribution that the harbour makes towards the north-east’s economy and future prosperity.
“The level of revenue assists the Board in applying its twin priorities of providing a safe, modern and clean harbour, through the maintenance of current infrastructure, while striving to meet the needs and expectations of our customers and stakeholders through the continued modernisation of the port.”
Vessel numbers for the comparator periods, however, showed a slight decrease of 2.7%, with 3,815 vessels entering the harbour, compared with 3,921 in the first six months of 2012.
Parker attributed this apparent paradox to the increasing size of vessels visiting the harbour. This in turn is helping drive his ambition to re-engineer the port to take account of increasing vessel size, especially subsea construction and maintenance vessels.
Parker: “Vessels are increasing in size year on year, reflecting advances in marine engineering, and the general ‘scaling up’ of the world’s shipping fleet.
“Our results therefore continue to support the Board’s feasibility study into creating additional longer, deep water berths, not to mention overall capacity, through the construction of a second harbour at Nigg Bay (to the south of the current port entrance).
“It is vital that the harbour continues to develop if it is too keep pace with the berthing requirements of our clients, in particular the growing demand for larger vessels, predominantly associated with subsea and decommissioning sectors, who wish to use Aberdeen.
“We are continuing the process of building the financial case in terms of how the Nigg Bay project could be funded and this, together with gaining the appropriate consents, will be key to whether the development will proceed.”
The planning and community engagement processes for the Nigg Bay development are in their infancy, but to safeguard continued prosperity for Aberdeen and the wider region, a modern, vibrant, fit-for-purpose harbour expansion is essential”.
Currently, Aberdeen’s port handles over 28million tonnes of shipping and more than 5million tonnes of cargo worth £1.5billion annually.
Activity at the port generates over £500million to the region’s economy each year and helps sustain around 11,000 full-time equivalent jobs.