More than a million lorry miles a year will be moved from roads in Argyll and the Highlands following the award of two Freight Facilities grants by the Department for Transport.
The “exceptional case” to develop Corpach Pier, near Fort William won £3.3m funding – a higher than normal level of grant. The project is a joint venture by CLYDEboyd – a partnership formed between Clydeport and transport firm Boyd Brothers of Corpach
It will allow 86,000 tonnes of freight per year, mainly timber and road salt, to be transported by sea and remove some 780,000 lorry miles from the Highland’s roads each year.
A spokesperson for Boyd Brothers said: “We are delighted with the grant and the fact we can move on.”
A second award of £223,000 was made to Iggesund Paperboard towards the capital cost of the renovation of the pier, forestry roads and other associated equipment required at Portavadie, Argyll. It will remove more than 300,000 lorry miles from Argyll’s roads each year enabling more than 350,000 tonnes of timber to be transported by sea from Portavadie to ports in Ayrshire and Workington in Cumbria over the next five years.
It follows a £693,000 Freight Facilities Grant to Iggesund Paperboard in 2001 which enabled refurbishment of the pier at Lochaline, the building of a private road from the forest to the pier and help towards timber shipping costs over a 10-year period.
