High demand by vessels looking to tie up at Oban’s North Pier has led to proposals for an extension.
Two to three ships a week are being turned away due to a lack of capacity.
This has being going on for a year, despite a drop in inquiries due to repeated regular refusals.
It means that Argyll and Bute Council, which owns the pier, is missing out on potential extra revenue.
Despite its use as a working pier, the North Pier is also home to two popular restaurants, Ee-Usk and Piazza.
There is also a busy transit pontoon development to its side, catering for visiting yachts.
The North Pier is regularly used by fish farm work boats, the Lismore CalMac ferry, large sail boats, logging boats, barges delivering salt and other materials, small to medium cruise boats, dive boats and tugs. It is also popular with small leisure, charter and sail training boats.
Harbour Board to consider extension
Plans for an extension will go before members of Argyll and Bute Harbour Board at a special meeting on Thursday.
Officers are asking the board to agree to prepare a business case to consider the viability of an extension to the pier.
In the report, Jim Smith, head of roads and infrastructure, writes: “This berthing face is in high demand and increasingly has insufficient capacity to meet the demands being made from commercial vessels.
“Recent salt deliveries have been disrupted and rescheduled due to the restricted access of heavy cranes on the cantilever pier edge. Also the availability of berthing space for ferries has resulted in disruption to our other regular customers.
“Oban Bay and the North Pier are of strategic importance for economic and tourism. Not only to the community of Oban but also to the hinterland, the many island communities who rely on Oban for strategic transport links, for aquiculture, offshore energy together with many other commercial and recreational users.”
The pier is just under 250ft long with a berthing depth of 9.8ft at its south end and 16ft at the north end.
Make the berth deeper and stronger
This limits berthing, particularly during certain tidal conditions.
Proposals include extending and strengthening the pier by an extra 164ft and dredging to a depth of 16ft all the way along.
“These works would help to ensure a safe and efficient through traffic management of commercial and private vehicles using the pier,” writes Mr Smith.
He said the business case would need to look at a range of potential designs.
New opportunities for cruise ships
Mr Smith added: “This concept proposal would also provide additional opportunities for cruise vessels to use the North Pier as a step ashore facility rather than relying on using tenders to transport passengers form anchorages elsewhere in the bay.”
Any future investment in the pier would be self-funding through the recovery of fees and charges.
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