Port Complex At Ardrossan As An Alternative

From: The Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald dated Friday 13th February 1970

PORT COMPLEX AT ARDROSSAN AS AN ALTERNATIVE

A plan for an integrated port development at Ardrossan was outlined by a West Kilbride civil engineer at the Hunterston inquiry at Ayr on Wednesday.

Mr James M. Morton, Hillside, West Kilbride, was the final objector to give evidence at the inquiry.

He suggested that such a development could supply the different needs of Chevron, Murco, the British Steel Corporation and the Clyde Port Authority and would replace the four small port facilities proposed by them.

Mr. Morton claimed it would be extremely short sighted to allow Chevron to build a refinery in Portencross area. He felt the deep water of the Clyde should be developed to the benefit of the community.

Referring to earlier suggestions about underground storage tanks, he said these were now being investigated in connection with the proposed refinery at Invergordon and were being used on the Continent.

Apart from the amenity point of view, underground tanks would be much safer.

He claimed that to allow the present proposals to proceed ?would be tantamount to allowing the very lowest standards of planning to prevail?.

Mr Morton said the Clyde offered the only water deep enough in North Europe to take the million ton tankers and multi purpose ships of the future, Scotland should seize this
opportunity now, he added.

It would be logical to provide a single multi purpose terminal and he suggested that Ardrossan provided the ideal site for such a development.

Better Situated

Geographically, it was better situated in relation to the main centres of population. The rail connections up the Garnock Valley to Glasgow and Central Scotland were good and road connections would be equally good with the implementation of the proposed urban road structure.

After referring to the build up of Ardrossan as a port, Mr Morton said maximum degree of flexibility must be included in a port layout.

What was the future of Ardrossan? If the present policy of the Clyde Port Authority continued and the present proposals were allowed to proceed there would be an inevitable decline in the use made of Ardrossan.

He declared: ?Ardrossan desperately needs a new user port complex; Hunterston does not?.

Mr Morton claimed that if the proposed steel complex eventually went ahead at Hunterston, the North Lanarkshire steel industry would have to close down and its workers transfer to Ayrshire.

By using a pipeline to carry the ore from the proposed Ardrossan terminal the Lanarkshire iron industry could be kept viable and the Ayrshire coastline would be preserved.

INDEPENDENT

He suggested the Reporter should recommend to the Secretary of State that an independent assessment of his proposals should be carried out.

Earlier, Glasgow businessman Mr James Marshall referred to the trend towards amalgamations throughout industry. ?It appears to me that the result of this is nearly always the removal of management from Scotland and its concentration in South East England?.

?I believe that this is bad for the nation of Scotland, leading to an unbalanced population - plenty of manual work and the routine administration which goes with it; but with the top management lacking?.

He said the policy of the Scottish Council had been successful in bringing industry to Scotland but the work provided had up to now been at operative rather than managerial level. ?As a result, Scotland is deprived of work for those who should be the leaders of the nation accustomed to taking orders if the trend is allowed to continue?.

Mr Marshall warned: ?If we allow the Hunterston area to be turned into an industrial area, we lose an irreplaceable asset of Scotland in attracting the management of industry. Scotland needs the management of her industry as much as she needs the industry itself?.

He concluded: ?And so I ask, for the sake of Scotland as a whole, spare the Seamill coast?.

Mr Alan Coleman, Old Monkcastle, Kilwinning, an executive in the computer industry, said it was ?irresponsible? of Ayr County Council to entertain the ultimatum of Chevron that they were only prepared to develop at Portencross.

He suggested that the developments would be far better sited on the hinterland and at the higher elevation.

?Let us plan for improvements. Let us not repeat the mistakes of the past?, he said.

A physicist at Hunterston Nuclear Power Station, Mr Ian Kennedy, 23 Glenside Road, West Kilbride, disputed some of the earlier evidence on the effects of pollution.

He later told the Reporter that if the industrialisation was to come about he would make every effort to get away from a country ?incapable of looking after its own best interests?.

Scribe Tango

Docker John Muir dies in Harbour accident

From "The Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald" dated Friday 20th February 1970

FATALITY AT HARBOUR

An Ardrossan Docker was fatally injured when he lost his balance and fell under the wheels of a tractor at Ardrossan Harbour last Friday.
Mr. John Muir (58), 33 Clyde Terrace, Ardrossan, had been working on containers in the Burns & Laird Lines car park when he fell in front of a tractor being driven by his son John (29), who lives at 98 Glasgow Street.
He was killed almost instantly.
A Police spokesman said later: "It was a million-to-one chance."
*********
From "The Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald" dated Friday 29th May 1970.

FORMAL VERDICT AT INQUIRY INTO HARBOUR DEATH

While men were loading containers on to the M.V. Lion at Ardrossan Harbour last February, an Ardrossan man fell under the wheels of a tractor driven by his son, and was killed.

John Muir, a 29-year-old docker of 98 Glasgow Street, Ardrossan, told a fatal accident inquiry at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court on Monday that he was driving his tractor slowly forward in the Burns & Laird Lines car park when he heard a shout and felt a slight bump as if he had gone over something.
"I jammed on my brakes and when I turned round I saw my father lying on the ground."

His father, John Muir (58), docker, 33 Clyde Terrace, died instantly from a fractured skull.
He had been standing on the trailer of another tractor, joining the shackles of the gantry crane onto the trailer when his son drove his tractor alongside and the accident happened.

Another witness, Mr. William Walker (57), 35 Oak Road, Ardrossan, who was one of the men working at the ferry said that after he had secured his shackles to the trailer he jumped to the ground.
"The next thing I heard was someone saying : "Oh God, John Muir has been run over."

The jury returned a formal verdict.

British Customs at Leith find a package of Cannabis in a hold of Liberian registered SANGEATANO

   A British Customs & Excise rummage squad at Leith Docks made a significant discovery when they found a large package containing around 30lbs weight of cannabis in a hold of the cargo ship SANGEATANO, registered in Monrovia, Liberia.

   The ship had brought about 10,000 tons of bauxite from Takoradi in Ghana, West Africa, and was originally expected to dock in Burntisland, Fife, but was diverted to Imperial Dock, Leith.

   SANGEATANO has a multi-national crew of 24, comprising Italians, Spaniards, Yugoslavs and a West African.

Harrison Line's CUSTODIAN closes at Birkenhead for Lobito, Durban, Beira and Lourenco Marques

Harrison Line's CUSTODIAN closes at Birkenhead for Lobito, Durban, Beira and Lourenco Marques

Harrison Line's CUSTODIAN closes at Birkenhead for receiving cargo for west, south and east Africa

Coaster JACINTH arrives at W. H. Arnott Young & Company Shipbreakers at Dalmuir for demolition.

CITY OF OTTAWA closes at Glasgow for receiving cargo for West, South and East Africa via Birkenhead

Ellerman's CITY OF OTTAWA closes at Glasgow for Las Palmas, and West, South and East Africa

CITY OF OTTAWA closes at Glasgow for receiving cargo for west, south and east Africa

Plan to make Ardrossan the "Superport" of the Clyde

From "The Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald" dated Friday 20th March, 1970

PLAN TO MAKE ARDROSSAN THE SUPERPORT OF THE CLYDE

The claim that a super-port at Ardrossan could meet the needs of the Chevron and Murco oil companies, the British Steel Corporation and the Clyde Port Authority in one single multi-purpose deep-water terminal handling one million ton tankers and bulk carriers is made in a report issued this week.

The report, published by Mr J. M. Morton, a civil and structural engineer who lives in West Kilbride, further claims that the amenity of the coast could be preserved by siting the oil refineries inland and costs could be kept down by using only a single pipeline for refined products.

The report states that the long-term closure of the North Lanarkshire steel industry could be avoided by the use of modern transportation techniques and the industry kept viable by linking the proposed Ardrossan terminal by pipeline to the area, with a transportation cost of about one twentieth of that by rail.

TRESTLE BRIDGE

Mr Morton's proposals include the erection of a trestle approach bridge, 5200 feet long extending from Campbell's Rock to a jetty berthing structure approximately 2300 feet long capable of accommodating one million ton crude oil tankers on the seaward side and two 50,000 ton tankers on the landward side.
These could be used for either transhipment of crude oil or for the export of refined products.

It is claimed that one million ton tankers are projected within the next five years and that to provide for only 300,000 ton oil tankers, as recommended by Chevron, would be extremely shortsighted.
Sooner or later, states the report, someone is going to want to berth a million ton tanker on the Clyde.
Crude oil would be pumped ashore, through the old Ardrossan Dockyard and through a buried oil sealine 500 yards long to the crude oil storage area of about 150 acres of reclaimed land to the north of the existing Shell refinery.
Shell plans to deepen and extend their present berth to accommodate larger vessels would be unnecessary under the present proposals.
A geographical survey could be carried out to prove a suitable neighbouring site for an underground storage system. As well as affording an opportunity for reduced risks, and hence reduced premiums, underground storage systems leave the space at ground level for other purposes.

IRON ORE DISCHARGE

Conventional iron ore discharge would be replaced by pumping or pneumatic handling of the material with attendant savings in capital and operating costs.
For handling pellets of ore or pre-reduced material, a stockyard has been provided on reclaimed land to the south-west of the old dockyard.
The existing railway lines may be conveniently extended to form sidings as shown, and it is envisaged that the ore would be either stockpiled or loaded by gantry direct onto the railway waggons.

Upon general recognition of the advantages of iron ore sludge handling techniques the ore would be pumped direct from the bulk carrier to an inland site, and from there by pipeline to the existing steel works at Motherwell.

The cost of Stage 1 will be approximately as follows :
Access Bridge, ?2.68m ;
oil berths, ?3.50m ;
ore berth, ?4.35m ;
ore stockyard, ?0.79m ;
total ?11.32m (excluding pipelines and ore handling plant).

TWO PHASES

The plan shows in stage 2 how the site at Ardrossan could be developed in two phases to give additional general cargo facilities.
Phase 1 consisted of construction to the north-west of the deep water trestle bridge and would produce five berths for general cargo vessels of the order of 50,000 tons deadweight.
It will require to be protected by a breakwater-wharf structure, and a concrete crib type having a hollow wave chamber separated from exposure to the sea by a perforated wall is suggested.
The cost of this phase would be approximately ?15 million.
Should further growth of traffic demand the implementation of Phase 2, then a further five general cargo berths, container parking and a transatlantic passenger liner berth could be provided for a further capital expenditure of approximately ?20 million.

The report anticipates that the existing dock facilities would be retained for small coasters, passenger services, tugs, etc., thus complementing the new facilities and providing a fully integrated port serving the Lower Clyde with direct road and rail access to the Glasgow conurbation.

Furthermore, an additional deep water berth for oil tankers up to 500,000 tons with another two 50,000 ton berths could be provided in the general user port till conditions moderate.

The report concludes with a claim that the interests of Industry and Amenity may be reconcild to their mutual advantage.
The construction of a "Super-Port" at Ardrossan which might come to be called a "Southampton of the North" provided the solution to what otherwise might appear to be an insoluble problem.

CITY OF OTTAWA closes at Birkenhead for receiving cargo for West, South and East Africa

Ellerman's CITY OF OTTAWA closes at Birkenhead for Las Palmas, and West, South and East Africa

CITY OF OTTAWA closes at Birkenhead for receiving cargo for west, south and east Africa

Ellerman's CITY OF BIRMINGHAM, CITY OF KARACHI and CITY OF GUILDFORD at Birkenhead

From Ellerman's Company magazine "On Shore and Afloat" of March 1970 showing three Ellerman cargo liners loading outwards at East Float, Birkenhead (England, UK)