Shipping Lines - Marking 50 years of base’s evolving operations at Ferryden

Built on approximately 40 acres, most of it reclaimed from the bed of the River South Esk, the ceremony marked the culmination of almost three years of construction and planning.

Montrose had been chosen by the international conglomerate due to its sheltered harbour, a reasonable depth of water, a good reputation for speedy cargo handling and turnaround of shipping plus good road and rail links.

On May 16 of the same year Mrs Thatcher came to name new quays which had been built as an integral part of the new offshore support base. On the Ferryden side Inchcape Quay, Jack Smith Quay and Nicoll’s Knuckle while across the river was named Captain Graham’s Quay.

Under an agreement with P&O, Montrose Harbour Trustees constructed the quays and undertook the dredging and reclamation works, meanwhile the base buildings, offices and warehouses had been developed by Sea Oil Services. Facilities on the base included extensive warehousing mechanical and engineering workshops, bunker fuel tanks, silos, a 10-metre paved apron behind the supply boat berth and a section of wharf capable of supporting a 2000-ton single lift.

In November, 1973 the first supply boats to seriously use the port facilities arrived and on May 27, 1974 the Sea Oil Services wharf was commissioned with the arrival of the ‘Tender Tarpon’, which discharged supplies from Norway.

Fifty years on the base still fulfills its basic function in providing support infrastructure for offshore projects and services but has evolved from only oil and gas exploration, development and production to offshore wind and renewable technologies.

The base, in addition, has its uses as a general purpose cargo quay for the handling of anchor and mooring chain, pipe, subsea equipment for a wide range of foreign destinations. All in all, it was conceived as a multi-purpose facility and a great asset to the port, while over the years it has had upgrades and partial rebuilds and the provision of deep water berthing capability.

Vessels recently in port, such as PSVs/anchor handlers Pacific Dispatch, Njord Viking, Horizon Arctic and Fram Prince show how, as offshore support vessels have grown in size, Montrose has risen to the challenge by providing the appropriate infrastructure.

Earlier in the month a small supply tender FS Aries was seen, built in Norway in 2008 by Myklebust Verft at Gursken, for the Emas company in Singapore. The shipyard was established in 1915. Looking very like a standard supply boat, she sailed to the site of the Inch Cape wind farm off the Angus coast. Her previous names were Aries Warrior and Lewek Warrior prior to changing to the British flag.

Memories were recalled recently also with the arrival of the small supply ship Mar Fortune built to a traditional design US Gulf Coast design at Lockport, Louisiana by Bollinger Shipyards.