Hochtief ties up Scots ports deal

Sources say that Hochtief's ship has come in for a ports deal in Scotland worth at least £35m.

The firm is set to sail away with a re-advertised scheme to redevelop Cairnryan port, near Stranraer, leaving rivals Kier and a McLaughlin & Harvey/Pierse joint venture stranded in dry dock.

The project first surfaced in 2005 and was then re-posted in the OJEU a year later, but the precise reasons behind that decision are hard to discover.

A project source would only say: "We decided to change the procurement route from restricted procedure to negotiated and the only way to do that was to re-advertise the whole thing."

Another insider claimed that although the official price tag the second time around was still the same at £35m, "the clients will be lucky if they get the scheme delivered for that figure now".

He also said: "Contractors will have to get their skates on now. The whole project is geared to the schedules of vessels and completion has to be reached in about a year."

P&O European Ferries and Stena Line have formed a joint venture for the scheme.

The project includes the design and construction of a new roll-on, roll-off berth consisting of a quay wall, jetty and a twin-deck linskspan for P&O ships, plus a new berth for Stena Line vessels consisting of an abutment wall and jetty.

The works also features a new passenger terminal, workshops and ancillary port buildings.

Around 230,000m3 of dredging is also involved, plus filling and paving work spanning 740,000m3.