Has the ship come in for North East ports?

Three of the North East’s key offshore service ports, Blyth, Tyneside and Teesport, are in the running for support services for the giant Dogger Bank offshore wind farm project, which is set to be the world’s largest when completed.

Bill Dixon, leader of Darlington Borough Council, has suggested that senior personnel from the project partners were showing a strong interest in the Tees Valley area, citing Statoil Vice President Halfdan Brustad’s recent and pending visits. Mr Dixon said the visits gave ‘a huge opportunity to secure jobs and investment in the region’. Darlington has recently seen an increase in offshore engineering activity through specialist companies based in the area such as Modus, Deep Ocean and Subsea Innovation.

Important bases for north-sea offshore wind development

North East ports are currently experiencing a growth in activity, with three of the region’s ports seeing giant vessels transporting wind turbine components or specialist turbine installation ships.

Port of Tyne is hosting Heerema Marine Contractor’s Aegir deep water vessel, with a 4,000 tonne heavy lift crane to carry wind turbine jackets to Scotland for the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre. Port of Sunderland has been hosting MPI Discovery, a 140m long turbine installation vessel, while Port of Blyth has recently hosted Gulf Marine Services GMS Endeavour.

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