SCOTLAND\\\


Streamlining the road to the Northern Isles


Orkney and Shetland are not exactly islands in the sun but business for Streamline Shipping is certainly giving them a warm glow. Fresh from the Group’s purchase of Grimsby based Lincs Forwarding last year, the 30 year old family business is also doing very well in the northern regions of Scotland. New school building projects in


Orkney, a gas plant for Shetland and the forthcoming extension of the main shipping pier in Kirkwall are all providing plenty of business for Streamline’s lo-lo ship from Aberdeen and also its trailer services, ,explains business development manager Hazel McMullan. “Streamline goes to the areas that


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the mainstream hauliers don’t want to go” she says. “A lot of them prefer to come as far as the Central Belt where they tip their base load and then drop their pallets for outlying areas at our depot in Bellshill, allowing them to


Government contract to operate ro ro passenger and freight services between Scrabster and Stromness


return quickly home for their next load safe in the knowledge that their freight is in good hands with us.” In the past year Streamline has


invested in new scanning technology which allows it to provide real time PODs for its parcel business to the Northern Isles. The company has also invested in new premises at Holmsgarth in Lerwick to support its parcel deliveries and has been rewarded with the Northern Isles business of most of the major parcel operators moving more than 1000 parcels a day. Streamline can also carry pallets,


part loads, full trailer loads and indeed large project cargo. In short, if the people of the Northern Isles want something Streamline will find a solution to get it there. It has also bid for the Scottish


and from Aberdeen to Kirkwall and Lerwick, currently operated by Northlink Ferries. It has been shortlisted as one of six potential operators with a decision due in Spring 2012.


In another development,


Streamline has also taken on the Aberdeen agency for Eimskip’s service to Northwest Norway and Murmansk


in North – West Russia, which recently added a call in the Scottish port to the existing one in Immingham. This is doing quite well, says Hazel McMullan, and offers an alternative to the one other remaining route. It is also one of a very select number of direct liner calls in Aberdeen and one of the very few direct services from the UK to the Russian port.


Snow joke


The Government’s plans for winter preparedness on the roads were of especial interest in Scotland, where large sections of the motorway and trunk road network were crippled during the snowstorms of December 2011. In his autumn statement, the Chancellor announced operational trials of snowploughs being fitted to normal commercial vehicles to


help clear access roads. The move was welcomed by


the Freight Transport Association, which said it was actively working with operators to see if the plans can be made to work in practice. One of the first companies


in Scotland to sign up to the scheme is Streamline, the main road operator to the Orkney and Shetland islands.


Issue 1 2012


31


T. Ward gets its second wind


Scotland’s freight forwarding industry has received a tremendous burst of energy – literally – says Nigel Souter, managing director of Edinburgh-based T. Ward Shipping. Windfarms, pipelines, oil and gas fields are all being built in numbers. And even the port of Leith, close to T. Ward’s offices, is importing substantial quantities of coal, plans to turn it over to housing having been abandoned. Leith also has potential as a


biomass port, should that method of electricity production ever usurp coal and it could be an ideal location for shipping wind turbine components, Nigel Souter believes, adding: “Otherwise we’re moving lots of aggregates to the Continent, steel and offshore turbines.” The Moray Firth has been designated as one of the locations for major wind farms off the east coasts of Britain. T. Ward also handles coaster traffic


for aggregates, timber, and even material for the oil and gas industry


to and from West Africa. “It’s wrong to say there’s no manufacturing in Scotland any more.” To quote just one example, there is a local firm making reels of highly specialised and expensive ‘umbilical’ cabling for the oil and gas industry. These reels are highly valuable “often worth more than the ship that carries them” - and it can be hard to find suitable tonnage. “And we still have


steel


manufacturing, fabrication and a big aerospace industry.” Even if and when the traditional


forms of energy give way to ‘greener’ sources, there is still work for the ports industry in the decommissioning of old oil rigs and gas platforms. “All this makes the industry very exciting,” says Nigel Souter. “There are an average of two wind turbines a day going out and two oil or gas platforms coming back in – and that’s likely to be the case for the next 20 years. There could be a lot of competition for the good port areas.”


SCOTLAND’S LOGISTICAL GATEWAY GRANGEMOUTH BURNTISLAND KIRKCALDY DUNDEE ROSYTH LEITH METHIL TILBURY


FORTHPORTS.CO.UK CALL US: 01324 668 400 EMAIL US: MARKETING@FORTHPORTS.CO.UK CATERING FOR ALL YOUR LOGISTICAL REQUIREMENTS:


CONTAINERS, WAREHOUSE, RO-RO, GENERAL CARGO, STORAGE AND LIQUID BULKS


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