MP impressed with CalMac's Perth success story
Watch a short film about the visit
Port and ferry operator CalMac welcomed the local MP to Perth Harbour to hear about how they've turned its fortunes around since taking on management of the facility.
Perth and North Perthshire MP Pete Wishart, heard how traffic through the port had increased by more than 200% since the Gourock based firm took over. Day-to-day management of the port was handed over to CalMac by Perth and Kinross Council two years ago.
'What CalMac have done since they came in has been very impressive, the Harbour is a huge asset for the town and the wider area but had been under used in recent years.
'Bringing in CalMac as a partner to provide the expertise needed has proved an excellent decision. Their expertise and experience of running 50 ports and slipways on the west coast is helping to breathe new life into this gateway to the east coast,' said Pete Wishart MP during his visit.
Picture shows: Local MP Pete Wishart (centre) joined Port Manager, Fraser Wallace and CalMac's Head of Harbours, Cameron MacPhail (left) for a tour of the facility.
Since taking over CalMac has increased harbour fee income for the local authority by 485%.
CalMac's Head of Ports & Harbours, Cameron MacPhail said: 'When we took over this contract, we wanted to breathe new life into the harbour. We saw it as a much underused income generation stream for the Council and wanted to see it developed again, as a valuable resource for the town. We are clearly delivering on this and have ambitions to grow traffic even more in the future.'
Types of cargo handled in the past year include timber, aggregates, the mineral Barite and fishmeal. Highlights have included a record cargo on one shipment of over 4000 cubic metres of timber and a visit by the 2500 tonnes Wilson Thames, the largest vessel handled by the port in recent years.