Harris Pye to Refurbish Kishorn Port Dry Dock Gates
Harris Pye begins work today on refurbishing the historic dock gates at Kishorn Port, last opened nearly 25 years ago. This will be the first step in making them, and the Kishorn dry-dock, operational once more. The contract value is £340,000 and the work will be undertaken in a six week period.
The hollow concrete gates were last opened nearly 25 years ago when the Skye Bridge caissons were constructed there in 1993. The dock was also where the Ninian Central production platform, one of the largest concrete structures ever to have moved across the face of the earth, was constructed in the late 1970s.
“We are delighted to have won this contract, and to be working on these historic gates,” explains Chris David, Harris Pye’s Chief Technical Officer. “We will be floating the gate - no mean feat as it weighs in excess of 13,000 tonnes; replacing all areas of corroded steel, and the rubber seals; and repositioning the gate prior to pumping the dock out to test the integrity of the gates. We will also be strengthening the access road to the dock gate and replacing the flooding covers and fitting new seals on them.”
The owners of Kishorn Port have identified a number of key markets that need access to sheltered deep water, big lay down areas and a large dry dock – Kishorn is one of the largest in Western Europe at 160m in diameter with 13m of draft available. These include the offshore renewables industry which has a requirement for the serial production of large concrete structures (with an on-site quarry and concrete production facilities Kishorn is ideally placed); oil and gas fabricators; and the expanding oil and gas decommissioning sector.
“Refurbishment of the deep draft dry-dock will undoubtedly give Scotland a significant advantage, and be a vital step in improving the local economy,” adds Chris David. “We are proud to be involved in this venture. We will be operating on a turnkey basis, our well trained mobile workforce is looking forward to the challenge.”
