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Displaying items by tag: Wind Turbine boom

In south-west Scotland, Peel Ports Clydeport is set for a record year handling wind turbine components at the King George V Dock site in Glasgow as the operator continues to support the renewable energy sector.

The UK’s second largest port operator will process over a thousand components, weighing more than 60,000 tonnes, at the site throughout 2024.

Since 2005 Peel Ports Clydeport has handled over 1,200 wind turbines through King George V Dock, resulting in more than 35 percent of total capacity installed in Scotland – more than any other port across the country.

The expected tonnage for 2024 marks a bumper year ahead for the facility, located on the banks of the River Clyde, which has a strong track record in transporting components used for onshore based wind projects.

Representing a significant increase in tonnage from last year, some 1,050 components, 100 complete turbines, and 249 blades from North Kyle Windfarm in East Ayrshire are set to go through the port’s deep-sea dock facility this year. The group will further handle around 550 blades, 100 drivetrains, 100 nacelles and 300 tower sections.

King George V Dock’s deep-sea facility is uniquely equipped to accommodate the handling of large-scale wind turbine components, allowing efficient movement of vital equipment to and from wind farm sites.

With Clydeport anticipating a surge in wind components in the year ahead, the news reflects growing momentum across Scotland’s renewables sector, and will help drive the country towards meeting its sustainable energy targets.

Jim McSporran, port director at Peel Ports Clydeport, said: “We’re all proud to be a major player in driving Scotland’s renewable energy ambitions forward.

“The tonnage set to pass through King George V Dock in the year ahead is really impressive, but what’s more, it shows the confidence of those working across the renewables sector in our ability to open the door for the seamless, and vital, transportation of key components.

“As the world looks to rise to the most urgent environmental challenges, the need for renewable energy has never been greater. A key part of our strategy moving forward is to ensure we are ready to help the sector meet this demand.”

Published in Ports & Shipping

About Brittany Ferries

In 1967 a farmer from Finistère in Brittany, Alexis Gourvennec, succeeded in bringing together a variety of organisations from the region to embark on an ambitious project: the aim was to open up the region, to improve its infrastructure and to enrich its people by turning to traditional partners such as Ireland and the UK. In 1972 BAI (Brittany-England-Ireland) was born.

The first cross-Channel link was inaugurated in January 1973, when a converted Israeli tank-carrier called Kerisnel left the port of Roscoff for Plymouth carrying trucks loaded with Breton vegetables such as cauliflowers and artichokes. The story, therefore, begins on 2 January 1973, 24 hours after Great Britain's entry into the Common Market (EEC).

From these humble beginnings however, Brittany Ferries as the company was re-named quickly opened up to passenger transport, then became a tour operator.

Today, Brittany Ferries has established itself as the national leader in French maritime transport: an atypical leader, under private ownership, still owned by a Breton agricultural cooperative.

Eighty five percent of the company’s passengers are British.

Key Brittany Ferries figures:

  • Turnover: €202.4 million (compared with €469m in 2019)
  • Investment in three new ships, Galicia plus two new vessels powered by cleaner LNG (liquefied natural gas) arriving in 2022 and 2023
  • Employment: 2,474 seafarers and shore staff (average high/low season)
  • Passengers: 752,102 in 2020 (compared with 2,498,354 in 2019)
  • Freight: 160,377 in 2020 (compared with 201,554 in 2019)
  • Twelve ships operating services that connect France, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Spain (non-Covid year) across 14 routes
  • Twelve ports in total: Bilbao, Santander, Portsmouth, Poole, Plymouth, Cork, Rosslare, Caen, Cherbourg, Le Havre, Saint-Malo, Roscoff
  • Tourism in Europe: 231,000 unique visitors, staying 2.6 million bed-nights in France in 2020 (compared with 857,000 unique visitors, staying 8,7 million bed-nights in 2019).