Calls to the Firth of Forth, Scotland, numbered 64 carrying about 60,000 passengers in 2009 of which seven were turnarounds. For 2010 the forecast is for similar numbers.
Forth Ports accommodates cruiseships in Leith (2 miles from Edinburgh), Rosyth (12 miles) and at Queensferry anchorage (9 miles). In 2009 there were 28 calls at Leith, 23 in Rosyth and 13 at anchorage.
The Port of Leith is a locked port and hence the size of the vessel is restricted to about 210m in length and 30m beam. There are three available berths for cruiseships with a depth of 9.5m. Rosyth has no length or width restrictions but an airdraught limit of 44.6m due to the Forth road and rail bridges. There are no restrictions at anchor.
Although there are no significant infrastructures planned in the short term, Nik Scott-Gray development manager at Forth Ports said that in the long term “we would still like to construct an outer berth at Leith which would allow the larger cruise vessels to call directly into Edinburgh”.
The project is still very much at the planning stage with discussions ongoing as to whether the berth should be to the west or the east of the lock entrance. Mr Scott-Gray says: “Ideally we would like a double berth allowing us to handle two 4,000 passenger vessels at any given time, and each berth would need to be 350m in length.” Due to the current financial climate it is now envisaged the plan is five to 10 years away.
