Oil-related arrivals and cargo hold steady at Lerwick Harbour, though tonnage down

Increases in cargo, passengers and mackerel landings helped the Port of Lerwick achieve forecast traffic levels in the half-year to June, 2014, compared with the same period in 2013.

The total for all cargoes handled at the port rose 8%, with combined ferry and cruise passengers jumping 13.8%.

The number of vessel arrivals, at 2,230, was down 11%, mainly due to a decrease in fishing vessels – also reflected in white fish landings which declined due to bad weather in the early part of the year, vessel refits and boats on charter to the oil industry.

The tonnage of vessels at 5.5 million gross tonnes was down 10%, principally due to an expected decrease in offshore industry bulk carriers/pipe-burying vessels compared with project work last year. 

The decrease was seen in the forecast drop in oil-related vessel tonnage, down 24% to 1.4 million gross tonnes.  However, oil-related arrivals held steady, at 307, as did offshore industry cargo – at 92,135 tonnes, less than one percent down.

The total for all cargoes handled at the port rose 8% at 582,253 tonnes.

Sandra Laurenson, Lerwick Port Authority Chief Executive, commented: “The nature of offshore projects means that the scale and type of traffic fluctuate. The reduced ship tonnages were forecast and are partially offset by the long-term presence of a significant tonnage of accommodation vessels housing construction workers at the Shetland Gas Plant. The deep-water port continues to be busy supporting major development and decommissioning projects.

“The sustained high level of other offshore activity and increased cargo and passenger figures are all positives. There was a welcome boost to winter mackerel landings at the start of the year, although the autumn fishery may be more modest due to poor international markets.”

While first quarter biennial refits to the two roll-on/roll-off ferries on the Aberdeen/Kirkwall routes and bad weather which disrupted ferries and an earlier-than-usual start to the cruise season saw passenger numbers reduced during the first three months,  figures rebounded in the second quarter to deliver a 13.8% increase to 78,894 for the half year.

Ferry passengers increased by 3.5% to 60,479, while cruise passengers rose 70% to 18,415, with the 25 cruise ships calling at Lerwick up 39%.

Fish landings went up 25% on volume and 35% on value, totaling 37,091 tonnes worth £35.1 million.

White fish, at 4,676 tonnes valued at £7.1 million, was down 19% on volume and 17% on value, with the price per tonne increased by 2.7% to average £1,528 per tonne.

Lerwick hits half-century of oil related work

This week marks a milestone for Lerwick Harbour in its involvement with the North Sea oil and gas industry.

Fifty years ago, two seismic survey ships operating east of Shetland sought shelter in the port - and they are believed to have been the first oil-related vessels to call at the start of Shetland's transformational and ongoing relationship with the industry.

1964: The Dutch seismic survey ship Runmond III

The Shetland Times of Friday 3 July 1964 reports that vessels, Cedar Creek from the USA and Runmond III, from Holland, surveying for Western Geophysical on behalf of a British ‘petroleum’ company, had been stormbound in Lerwick the previous weekend (27-28 June). They later headed for Norway.

This year also marks the 50th anniversary of the UK Government’s passing of the Continental Shelf Act, the First Round of Licensing of blocks for exploration and the first well drilled.

The first wells were drilled east of Shetland in 1971 and a first well to the west in 1972. The impetus for a major role for Lerwick Harbour came in the 1970s with the development of East Shetland Basin fields, including Brent and Ninian.

Lerwick Port Authority Harbourmaster, Captain Calum Grains, explained: “Oil-related vessels weren’t recorded separately from general ships through the 1960s. Only with increasing activity in the ‘70s were they categorised and counted by their types.

“Research by our staff and recollections from the then shipping agent at Hay & Co led to these two vessels which are believed to be the first oil-related ships into Lerwick.

“By way of comparison, Cedar Creek, at 151 gross tonnes, is around the size of the port’s current vessel, Kebister. The then fairly new stern trawler, Runmond III, at 241 gross tonnes, is comparable to a modern local white-fish vessel. Seismic ships now calling at Lerwick can be significantly larger - some Ramform vessels weigh in at over 10,000 tonnes.”

Since oil vessels were first categorised in the port’s records in the 1970s, around 40,000 have called at Lerwick which developed as a leading support centre.

Captain Grains added: “No-one could have guessed then what these two vessels heralded for Shetland in oil and gas activity and the impact on the economy and community over the next five decades. Or that, 50 years on, development would still be continuing onshore and offshore, with years of production to come – and that we would still be investing in the port to make the most of more new opportunities.”

2014: The Ramform Challenger

The offshore industry is a major beneficiary of investment by the Port Authority which is proposing to spend another £30 million-plus in the next few years. Development over the decades means Lerwick now has almost 4,000 metres of quay, including over 1,300 metres of deep-water berthing, and 130,000 square metres of laydown.

Future capital projects will include another 1,800 metres of quay.

Numbers working offshore keep growing - and Shetland is essential in the transportation process

Offshore Worker Numbers Continue to Grow in UK Oil and Gas - and Shetland is crucial

The UK’s core offshore workforce - those who spend over 100 nights a year offshore - grew in 2012 to 25,760, the largest since 2006. Almost 57,000 people travelled offshore in total, nine per cent more than in 2011. Oil & Gas UK’s 2013 Offshore Demographics Report was published today (26 June). It shows that of those who travelled offshore in 2012: the average age is 41.1 years, similar to previous years the number of people aged under 30 years grew by 14 per cent compared with 2011 over 80 per cent is of British nationality three and half times more people work for non-operators than operators 4 per cent were female Shetland is crucial in the safe, effective, reliable and economical transportation of workers offshore via its airport facilities at Sumburgh, Scatsta, Tingwall and Baltasound in Unst, which is being considered by Chevron as a possible base . For more information on doing business in Shetland's energy sector click here