Hunterston - The UK's Port of the Future? Photo: Calum McCulloch

Clydeport will soon (June 2005) reveal its proposals for a new international shipping hub at Hunterston and the future of the Clyde, Scotland and the whole of the UK could depend on the final outcome.

Today's world of shipping is a hugely different one from the days of steamers loading mixed cargoes at city docks, often waiting days for the goods to be fully transferred, seamen would take the opportunity to go ashore and many a hearty night was spent in many a hostelry.

Forget the romantic days of Clan Line and Ben Line et al, the shipping industry and the world have changed out of all recognition from the Golden Years of the 1950's.

For one thing, Britain is no longer the centre of an empire, trading its goods from places such as Glasgow to the Commonwealth. The centre of world production of the things people want has shifted largely to the Asian region, with Europe and America producing luxury goods. The possibilities for trade are almost limitless now, and with a burgeoning economy in China, more and more goods are being sent to and fro on the Asia-America-Europe trades. The ships have changed too. For one they are container vessels - for two they are getting bigger - and for three - they're going to get a lot bigger still.

This has serious implications for existing ports. Many in the UK and Europe have already reached capacity, delays are commonplace, but the added dimension of gigantic mega ships will prove the end for some of our established ports.

Shippers want to increase their profts and drive down overheads constantly. This is done by various means - low-wage crews, flying flags of convenience, investing in more efficient tonnage. It is that efficient tonnage they are concentrating on now.

Container ships are set to grow even bigger (Photo Maersk Sealand

Not only do bigger ships mean less costs for more cargo, it also means the ships are best utilised by having as few port calls as possible. Sending a massive ship to many ports there to part unload and load is time consuming and, frankly, a waste of time. The amount of hours a ship spends in port is a loss of time in actually transporting the goods, waste time and a competitor will find ways of beating you hands down.

More and more shipping companies see the Asia-Europe-USA route as the ideal service. Touch all three centres of economic power, and do so in the quickest time. That is to say, have one port in each continent, ideally, so that the goods are loaded and offloaded as efficiently as possible.

This means a huge problem however. These ships are getting so big, existing ports are straining to accomodate them. Worst still, if these ports cannot turn around the vessels to the shipowner's satisfaction, then they will only go to a port that can guarantee the most efficient use of time and with minimum, if any, delays.

All the UK's major container handling ports have significant problems dealing with current requirements, most cannot expand, either physically, or due to environmental reasons such as the need to dredge and take over sensitive land. This could, and will, have a serious impact. It will mean the new ships won't bother calling at the UK, instead they will go to a European mega-port that can handle them. Britian will then have her goods transported by feeder services.

This is not good news for Britain's importers and exporters, and is not good for Britain's maritime industry. Where the big players go means the associated services go as well. British ports will be relegated to second-rate players in a market worth billions every year.

But even in Europe, the dawn of the mega container ship is presenting headaches. The English Channel is a constant worry - it is relatively shallow and is increasingly congested. The risks of accidents are increasing, and for some of these heavilly laden new monsters of the sea, some parts of the channel will be no go areas for safety reasons. Insurance premiums are already high for vessels using the channel, they will get a lot higher as the ships get bigger and the channel chokes up.

Another problem is Europe's mega ports being unable to handle the new ships of the future efficiently too.

All in all - something either has to be done, or the world's shippers will pass on their frustrations in the form of increased costs. These guys are now big players, and they can more or less do what they want.

There are, in Scotland, two perfect solutions to this UK and Europe-wide problem. They come in the form of two natural harbours that can easily, efficiently, and with minimal environmental impact, be transformed into the very mega ports the shippers need. These are at Hunterston on the Clyde and Scapa Flow in the Orkneys.

Put simply, these two ports could act as major hubs for the Northern European trades and the UK-Irish-Iberian trades, with Scapa Flow taking the Northern and the Clyde being the centre for UK operations.

Not only that, but both could act for the USA trades too, completing the 'swing' routes from Asia to Europe and the USA.

I will deal here with Hunterston though, as I know less about Scapa Flow.

Hunterston is one of Europes deepest natural harbours and can, now and for the foreseeable future, accommodate the world's largest ships fully laden, safely and efficiently. No major dredging is required and it has a vast brownfield site that is under-used at present. The costs of setting up Hunterston as a major new container hub will be significantly less, economically and environmentally, than any other proposal so far put forward for port expansion elsewhere.

Clydeport are currently working on environmental impact studies, and it is expected that any difficulties will be minimal compared to other solutions. Economically the benefits of a new superport will be phenomenal to say the least.

Ships from the USA and Asia will unload and load their cargoes which in turn will be transferred to smaller vessels to take them to the smaller ports around the UK, Ireland, Iberian coasts and other places in Europe, creating a centre for the world's shipping. Not only will this solve the many congestion problems, it will bring increased trade and industry to Scotland, as producers and importers/exporters see the costs of their distribution fall if they are located in Scotland, with well connected routes to the rest of the globe on their doorstep.

For the maritime industry too, this will mean a radical expansion of services, from ships agents to shiprepair, harbour services to suppliers of fuel and stores. It may well be that many shipping companies will re-locate offices to be nearer the centre of operations. In short, the Clyde will become the centre of UK shipping for the first time since the glory days of the nineteen fifties.

So you can see that Hunterston is not only a local issue, it is a regional one, a national one, a European and International one. Good for the Clyde, for Ayrshire, Scotland, the UK and the health of trade in Europe and the rest of the world.

That is the case for Hunterston, I hope if asked you express your support.

The future of generations to come may hinge on it.