KIRKMABRECK QUARRY, PIER REACTIVATION - UPDATE
1. Purpose of Report
1.1 This report has been compiled to update Members on the feasibility study that was commissioned into the re-use of Kirkmabreck Quarry Pier within the Stewartry area. The aim of the report is to raise awareness of the issues around the piers use, provide an update on what has been done since the report was produced and consider Member comments.
1.2 A feasibility study was produced earlier this year that looked into the reactivation of Kirkmabreck Quarry Pier. The full report has been loaded onto the Members briefcase area and a copy has been printed and made available in the Members lounge in Kirkcudbright. This report summarises the issues around re-opening the pier for shipping timber and sets out the potential positive economic impact of getting timber brought in by sea to save timber travelling significant distances by roads to be then processed within our region. The investment into the initial feasibility work has helped potential operators to understand the work needed to reopen the quay as a working pier.
2. Recommendations:
Members are asked to note the conclusions of the feasibility study to consider the re-use of Kirkmabreck Pier.
3. Considerations
3.1 Forestry cover in South Scotland varies based on each local authority with Dumfries and Galloway 27%, South Ayrshire 22%, East Ayrshire 18%, North Ayrshire 15%, Scottish Borders 18.5% and South Lanarkshire 9%. In Dumfries and Galloway there are 170,850 hectares of woodland in total, representing 27% of the land area (National Inventory for Scotland 2011). The high level of forest cover in South of Scotland produces a third of Scotland’s timber supplies (3 million tonnes each year), much of which is processed within the region. Forestry and the wood processing industries in South of Scotland maintain over 3,000 jobs and contribute substantially to the regional economy. Sustainable timber transport has a very high importance in South of Scotland due to the proportion of rural roads used in its movement from the forest. Transporting logs from the forest to the processors relies on trucks using the minor road network which needs to be carefully managed.
3.2 There are a number of local timber processing facilities in the area, based in Dalbeattie, Lockerbie, Annan and further afield in Carlisle with some smaller mills located within the region. This means that there is a lot of timber moving within the region as well as a substantial amount of processing which is done locally.
3.3 To remain competitive against foreign imports the processing facilities are mainly state of the art and continue to have significant amounts of money invested to ensure they maximise efficiency. Continuity of supply is important and so having a facility such as Kirkmabreck could help source timber from far afield such as Argyll or the Highlands. This can reduce the environmental impact when compared to haulage by road, as shipping produces less CO2 in comparison. Another positive side of using this facility would be that it would reduce the impact on the road system by substantially reducing the number of timber road miles travelled.
3.4 The feasibility study aims to improve the business infrastructure of Dumfries and Galloway by supporting the restoration of Kirkmabreck Quarry Quay as a working commercial quay. Initially enabling contracts for the transportation of forest products by sea. Members are referred to the decision made to part fund the feasibility study as detailed in the background report presented to the Stewartry Area Committee in September 2010.
The objectives were to:
· Establish the technical feasibility of upgrading the quay facility to be fit for
commercial usage;
· Provide enough information so that the private sector has the confidence to provide the investment to fund the works required;
· Survey the navigation channel for obstructions; and
· Buoy the channel to the quay to ensure safe navigation.
3.5 Kirkmabreck Quarry Quay is owned by Tarmac and was previously used for processing and transport of quarry materials. The facility has been mothballed for over 10 years. The Forest Industries in South West Scotland and Tarmac have had discussions on use of the quay and are keen to see this up and running again for timber transport by ship both in and out of the region. The site map and the history of the pier are shown in Appendix 1.
3.6 The Pier is located next to the A75 close to the settlement of Carsluith. It is close to large areas of commercial forestry and consists of a large 11.4ha site, partially concreted with a quay berth. This quay unlike some of the other small ports in the region is capable of taking large vessels 1,500-2,000 tonnes depending on draught. Although still tidal the channel and berth can accommodate these larger vessels easily. These single vessels could carry the timber lorry equivalent to 60-80 lorry loads.
3.7 Key Issues of the Feasibility Study:
· The pier’s potential to accommodate large vessels, and the large area of adjacent hard standing makes it suitable for bulk storage. These are key benefits of the site when compared other harbours in the Solway Firth region;
· The location and good access away from communities, along with size of the site make it ideal for shipping timber;
· Operation of general cargo shipping is feasible with some remediation work to the pier;
· Shipping operations would be tidally restricted;
· The survey of the quay wall has found it needs urgent repair to avoid collapse;
· The requirement for further investigation of environmental impact is mainly due to the proposed deepening of the berth by channel training or dredging, or both;
· The high level of sediment build-up in the berth currently prevents its use by typical timber transport vessels. Barges or specialist shallow draft cargo vessels may be able to use the berth in its current condition on a tidally restricted basis. The main work involved in reactivating the pier is berth deepening work. Berth deepening work could be either channel training or berth dredging, or a combination of both;
· Buoying the channel with permanent navigation buoys for a small scale shipping, operation as originally proposed, is not recommended for the following reasons:
o A large number of buoys would be required to effectively mark the channel due to many bends and dog-legs in the channel, something in the region of 8-10 pairs of buoys would be required (expensive);
o The channel is prone to changes in position after storm events, etc, so the channel will require frequent re-survey and buoys would need to be frequently repositioned (expensive);
o For a small scale shipping operation temporary navigation buoys set out during re-survey of the channel would be more cost effective. Temporary buoys have been used effectively here in the past. Due to the dynamic nature of the estuary, use of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) mapping of the channel and GPS assisted navigation would also be more appropriate than a large investment in permanent buoys.
· Further work has been identified:
o An investigation of the most suitable berth deepening and maintenance method, together with costs and resultant environmental impact.
o An investigation of the water course flowing from under the quay wall.
o A Scottish Natural Heritage licensed otter survey of the pier area prior to planning remedial works to the quay.
o Engineering design for remedial works based on user-specific operational requirements.
o Development of a survey & monitoring program and navigation method for the approach channels, based on user-specific operational requirements.
· The neighbouring harbour masters felt that Kirkmabreck Quay would not take away any business from them. The comments were made that this would generally promote coastal shipping. The lack of adequate ports suitable for sea freight operations was highlighted in Solway Firth Harbours Feasibility Study 2008 produced for Dumfries & Galloway Council; and
· The total costs of the work to bring the quay back into use have been estimated at £250,000.
3.8 A contract has been drawn up between John Scott Transport and Tarmac to share access to the site with JST being leased half the site as pier operator once the facility is operational.
3.9 Several firms have expressed an interest in using the quay facility including two large sawmill businesses, one large paperboard manufacturer. Sawmill companies see potential to transport saw logs to their businesses in Dumfries & Galloway by boat from Argyll and other locations on West coast of Scotland rather than by road haulage as currently happens. A paper manufacturer based in England has expressed demand for more pulping wood from the region and this could be transported in a cost effective way i.e. by ship from Kirkmabreck to Workington.
3.10 Initial operation of the pier would see 6-12 boats using the facility each year. This could be approx of 9-18,000 tonnes of timber moving through the facility. A rough break down of this would be 3,000t/6,000t pulp chip export and 6,000 t/12,000t logs imported. This would equate to approximately 700 lorry loads.
3.11 It is thought that the regeneration of the pier could facilitate other complimentary shipping activities and there is an opportunity to exploit back loads once any timber has been offloaded.
3.12 Other potential commercial interest is for shipping pulp wood and round timber to other areas such as North Wales.
3.13 A working quay at Kirkmabreck could attract developer interest in build and deployment of windfarms. It is understood that windfarm companies have visited Kirkmabreck to assess its suitability.
3.14 The main activities undertaken during the preliminary site investigation phase were as follows;
· Geotechnical investigation of the berth floor and buried footings of the quay wall (0.9 Ha);
· General visual inspection and photographing of the pier, quay, and berth floor (12.3 Ha);
· Combined topographic and bathymetric survey of the pier and its seaward approaches (42.2 Km2);
· Sidescan sonar survey of the approaches (39.1 Km2);
· Hydrographic survey of tidal waters adjacent to the pier (26 day duration).
3.15 The main activities undertaken during subsequent feasibility study work are as follows:
· Researching the history and environmental setting of the site;
· Processing survey information to produce charts, berth diagrams, and tidal predictions for planning; and navigational purposes;
· Consultation, correspondence and site meetings with advisory and stakeholder organisations;
· Meetings with organisations and individuals who have had previous experience of the site;
· Assessment of future uses for the pier, and pricing of remedial works and other enabling works required.
3.16 The project produced a written report, together with associated drawings and survey data DVD, and further results of work carried out for this study.
3.17 The anticipated returns on investment or economic benefits secured as a result of this project are:
· In the initial start-up existing jobs in local industry will be safeguarded – including crane operators, hauliers, timber processors, jobs in forest management;
· Successful operation of the pier may see 2 new jobs created to operate a mobile crane unit, 2 to 3 new driver positions from increased demand for timber haulage;
· 153,300 timber lorry miles (250 timber lorry loads) removed from roads;
· Contract secured between JST and Tarmac for leasing Pier facilities;
· Significant investment secured in infrastructure in potentially strategic transport link that could potentially be used by other businesses.
3.18 The following organisations contributed towards the feasibility report:
Organisation Interest
Dumfries & Galloway Council Local planning officer
SEPA Local Environment Protection Officer
Scottish Natural Heritage Area Officer
Galloway Fisheries Trust River Cree Rare Fish Project Officer
Dumfries & Galloway Council Wigtown Bay LNR Ranger
Universal Steels (Scotland) Ltd Potential developer of the site, 2004
Individual Kirkmabreck Pilot, retired
Asher Associates Ltd Engineer previously involved in the site
MV Second Degree Workboat operator & cockle fisherman
Individual Kirkmabreck Quarry Manager, retired
Creetown Heritage Museum Local history curator
Dumfries & Galloway Council Garlieston Harbour Master
Dumfries & Galloway Council Kirkcudbright Harbour Master
Dumfries & Galloway Council Isle of Whithorn Harbour Master
Wigtown Bay Wildfowlers Club Local wildfowler & drainage engineer
MFV Molly Garlieston inshore fisherman
Scott’s Stores Local stone merchant and quay user
Creetown Initiative Ltd Projects Officer
Tarmac Limited Estates Manager
Solway Maritime Services Ltd Offshore Windfarm Services Supplier
Cassencarrie Estate Owner of adjacent shellfish farm
JST Services Ltd Operations Director
McLaughlin & Harvey Ltd Estimator
Halcrow Group Ltd Civil Engineer
Partrac Consulting Ltd Environmental consultant
Land & Water Group Ltd Dredging and marine contractor
Coastal Engineering UK Ltd Civil Engineer
Transport Scotland Project Administrator
Dong Energy Operations Manager
3.19 The major constraint is funding the redevelopment work and so the potential operators will be looking for support from as many organisations as possible. We believe that this project needs to be Private sector led investment. There are opportunities to examine co-funding from organisations such as Scottish Enterprise and the Strategic Timber Transport Scheme.
3.20 The South of Scotland Timber Transport Officer has a role to research and develop alternatives to road haulage and this project is fully endorsed by him. In terms of the impact this can make, reactivating Kirkmabreck Quay would be hugely positive for the region and for the Forest Industry. There is also the possibility of having complimentary shipping in and out of the quay which can support other industries.
3.21 The production of the feasibility study has enabled the industry to progress and gain confidence and an understanding into the work required along with cost estimates. This study has been a key factor in ensuring the necessary commercial support.
3.22 The next steps are already being considered and this involves looking into how the work is funded and then agreeing the detailed design and arranging further survey work, along with discussions with stakeholders and the Planning Department. There are ongoing meetings with key representatives in the Forest Industry but due to commercial sensitivities we are not able to report on this at this time. We can however report that the strong commercial interest to make this into a working pier.