My pictures frequently feature the yellow/green boxes of the Arnish Fabrication Yard, 1 mile south of here across Stornoway Harbour. Today is the last day that I'll be seeing any activity there for some time, as the facility is to be mothballed. Again.
Arnish came into being as a base for fabricating oil rigs in the 1970s. The site boomed, with up to 1,000 workers employed there in its heyday. At one point, they had to draft in a cruiseliner, the Borea (now Kristina Regina, she visited last week), to house all the workers. A downturn in the oil industry led to the closure and stripping of the yard by its then operators.
Late in 2005, Arnish reopened as a site for fabricating components for the renewable energy industry. I'm talking wind turbines, wavepower generators etcetera. The yard, operated by Welsh firm Camcal, had a £20m cash boost and a promising orderbook. The much vaunted Lewis windfarm was to be built here, to bring hundreds of jobs to the island.
Who can describe my horror, and the resigned "told you so"'s from the locals, when Camcal announced it was seeking a partner for take-over, more money and finally that it was going into administration. This will take effect from Monday, and the yard will be kept on a care-and-maintenance base.
The 100 workers at Arnish were laid off, a large percentage of whom were Eastern European workers. Local workers had too much experience of the lack of longevity of any projects at the yard and had not bothered to apply.
Well, the Arnish Yard follows the closure of the fish processing plant on Scalpay (5 miles east of Tarbert, Harris) and the demise of the Harris Tweed industry in the 1990s to make it a morbid trio of failure of industry.
Anyone want to start a distillery?
I'm much too stupid to understand this entry.....but please don't take that as ignorance.
ReplyDeleteIf I ever don't comment, it doesn't mean I haven't read it..:-)
Stevie
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