Scottish Coast News

Britain's high-tech polar research ship RRS Sir David Attenborough is gearing up for its first Antarctic science cruise.Over the coming weeks, the crew and scientists on board the vessel will be carrying out a range of trials to test the ship's science equipment in both deep and shallow water around the Scottish coast. Among the tech to be tested are the vessel's moonpool, coring equipment and the ship’s workboat Erebus, all of which are critical elements of upcoming science missions.Erebus will be put through its paces with new equipment…

UK-based crew transfer vessel operator Seacat Services said Thursday it had signed a long-term charter for catamaran Seacat Weatherly with Moray Offshore Windfarm (East) Limited.Seacat Weatherly has already started its assignments earlier this quarter to support Operations & Maintenance (O&M) activity for the Moray East service team working at the 100-turbine, 950MW capacity wind farm in the UK."Building wind farms in deeper waters further from shore enables operators to harness greater wind speeds with fewer obstructions than on land…

The first offshore wind turbine has been installed at Seagreen, an SSE-TotalEnergies project which will become Scotland’s largest and the world’s deepest fixed bottom offshore wind farm once complete.The installation of the first Vestas V164-10.0 MW turbine in the North Sea off the Scottish coast heralds the start of the turbine installation phase which will see a total of 114 wind turbines installed across the project site. This turbine is also the first V164-10.0 MW turbine installed globally…

Floating wind farm foundations specialist Ideol has signed a letter of intent with the Port of Cromarty Firth in the UK, that could create more than five hundred new Scottish construction jobs.The agreement would see the French-based company and its future local construction partners use the Port’s land and Firth berthing sites and cooperating towards further developing the facilities and infrastructure to establish a concrete hull serial manufacturing yard for incoming floating wind tenders.

Statoil, Shell, DONG Energy turn to U.S. offshore wind; oil firms bring big budgets, offshore tech and risk experience. Some European oil majors have made inroads into the emerging U.S. offshore wind energy market, aiming to leverage their experience of deepwater development and the crowded offshore wind arena at home. Late entrants to the offshore wind game in Europe, which began with a project off Denmark 25 years ago and is now approaching maturity, they are looking across the Atlantic at what they view as a huge and potentially lucrative new market. Norway's Statoil has won a licence to develop a wind farm of the New York coast, is marketing its new floating turbine to California and Hawaii and is retraining some oil and gas staff to work in its wind division.

The British, French and Canadians are searching the seas off Scotland for a Russian submarine detected off the northern coast 10 days ago, reports the Australian. French patrol planes are scouring the seas off Scotland for a Russian submarine after Britain was forced to call on allies for help because it has scrapped its own sub-hunting aircraft. BBC says that an RAF plane is "conducting activity" off the Scottish coast, the Ministry of Defence says, amid reports of a Russian submarine being spotted in the area. A Royal Navy Frigate and submarine are also thought to be involved in the search, along with Canadian and French maritime patrol aircraft. The Telegraph reports the French plane has searched for the submarine for at least 10 days.

A Scottish fishing boat skipper Angus Macleod has reported a terrifying brush with what is believed to be a rogue Russian submarine inside British waters in the North Sea. Macleod said he and his four crew were “extremely lucky” to survive the incident in which his net was dragged in front of his 62ft trawler. He has claimed that the submerged object almost pulled the boat and crew under the waves and his boat Aquarius was nearly dragged to a watery grave. “It was not a whale - we have had whales in the nets before and the net is all twisted afterwards. Experts say it was “very likely” that Russian submarines would be prowling the shores ahead of planned British war games. The Royal Navy has said there were no British or NATO submarines in the area at the time.

The towing of the DFDS cargo vessel Lysblink Seaways began today at 1:00pm local time, the UK's Maritime Coast Guard Agency announced. The vessel ran aground at Ardnamurchan Point in northwest Scotland almost two weeks ago, and was moved to Scallastle Bay in the sound of Mull last Wednesday, the Aberdeen Press and Journal reported. A passage plan has been agreed to by Hugh Shaw, the Secretary of State’s representative, and covers the 150 nautical mile tow to Inchgreen, Greenock on the Firth of Clyde. “The tow will, where possible, take advantage of sheltered waters and will move through the Sound of Mull, Firth of Lorn, Sound of Jura and the North Channel before entering the Firth of Clyde," Shaw said.

New business venture Knights Offshore Support (KOS) has taken delivery of its first CTruk 20T MPC offshore wind support vessel, Coastal Knight, which will soon join offshore wind industry service provider CWind’s growing charter fleet. Owner Paul Knight considers CTruk’s multi-role composite cats to be “the vessels of the future” and hopes that the 18.5m Coastal Knight, will be the first of a fleet of KOS workboats to ultimately support offshore wind farm construction and operations around the Scottish coast.

Scottish designers, engineers and shipbuilders are assembling the world’s first hybrid seagoing Ro-Pax ferries. The two revolutionary passenger and car ferries will each carry up to 150 passengers and 23 cars or two HGVs and provide a vital ferry service for a group of remote islands off the west Scottish coast. Powered by a dual diesel-electric system which reduces their fuel and CO2 consumption by at least 20%, the 43.5 metre long vessels will be delivered next year. The Small Ferries project, as it is known, is a partnership between Caledonian Maritime Assets (CMAL) and Ferguson Shipbuilders of the Port of Glasgow and is part-funded by EU money. Lloyd’s Register has been surveying the building work, ensuring compliance with plan approval and LR rule requirements.

With the advancement of ground-breaking innovation in the renewable marine energy industry, the Cromarty Firth Port Authority has had the opportunity to demonstrate that everything is possible and there is nothing that cannot be achieved via the facilities in the Firth. For many years, the Cromarty Firth has been recognised worldwide as a hub for Inspection, Repair and Maintenance of oil rigs and subsea engineering; however the growth of the renewable energy industry has seen the area and the Invergordon Service Base, become a major service facility for the renewables industry.