CLYDEPORT bosses planned to boost freight capabilities at Greenock Ocean Terminal with second-hand cast-off cranes from parent company Peel's site on Merseyside, the Telegraph can reveal.

Bosses had been set to take delivery of the unwanted heavy lifting gear following a £400 million revamp of facilities at Liverpool, before eventually deciding to invest £25 million on brand new cranes for Greenock.

Clydeport rubbished suggestions that the second-hand option is still live when approached by the Tele but admitted that this was the original plan.

The Scottish arm of parent group Peel Ports announced in mid-2022 that a £17m tender had been issued for two new cranes to help future-proof the Inverclyde site.

The infrastructure deal, hailed as 'the largest single investment made at the container terminal since it opened in 1969', was aimed at boosting productivity by replacing the pair of cranes currently at the terminal.

A source contacted the Telegraph in response to a recent article and claimed the 'new cranes' are 'not as they seem', and alleged 'Liverpool bought some shiny new cranes for around £25m and gave their old ones to Clydeport'.

Greenock Telegraph:

The Peel Group ordered two new ship-to-shore (STS) cranes for the Merseyside port as part of the £400 million Liverpool2 development to create a new deep water container terminal, and a press release from manufacturers Liebherr - published in March 2021 - stated the existing structures were 'to move to Clydeport'.

It said: "The two new cranes are replacements for two of the existing STS cranes, which will be relocated to Peel Ports’ Greenock Ocean Terminal at Clydeport.

"The transfer of the cranes from The Port of Liverpool will allow Clydeport to offer their customers improved services from the relocated cranes due to the increase in safe working load and operational capability."

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However, when approached by the Tele for clarity, the company outright dismissed claims of a cover-up and confirmed brand new cranes are currently being built in Ireland and are scheduled to be on site here within the next few months.

A spokesperson for Peel Ports Clydeport said: “After finalising our detailed feasibility study, we concluded that, rather than replace the existing cranes at Greenock with larger cranes from Liverpool, we would instead invest £25 million installing brand-new, state-of-the-art cranes, significantly expanding the freight capability at Greenock for decades to come.

“Not only will the new cranes enable us to service larger, ‘Post-Panamax’ container vessels at Greenock, their improved energy efficiency will also significantly reduce our carbon footprint.

“The construction of these two cranes is currently being completed in Ireland, and they are due to be installed and operational in Greenock this summer.”

Greenock Telegraph:

Clydeport director, Jim McSporran, has welcomed the imminent arrival of the new cranes as an important milestone in the history of Clydeport, and recently revealed the cost has shot up from initial estimates by around £8m.

He told the Tele late last year: "This is just one of the initiatives we are undertaking at the site which will future-proof its operations, safeguard jobs and underpin the local and Scottish economy."

It is understood that due to inflation, the cranes will now cost £10m each plus around £5m for installation and works.

A notice to mariners issued this week states that work to install new crane anchors at the Greenock port was scheduled to begin on Monday, lasting until mid-March, with divers working from the quayside.