Additional Freight Capacity on the Forth is needed because of the strategic importance of the Forth in relation to heavily used North Sea freight shipping routes. In the short term, we expect to see proposals at Rosyth progress through the marine consenting process.Proposals for development at other ports may come forward as economic recovery progresses.

Implementation Lead(s): Planning authorities with a Firth of Forth coastal zone and existing or disused port.

Locations: Firth of Firth

Further reading:
The Port Babcock Rosyth Harbour Empowerment Order 2009
The Rosyth International Container Terminal (Harbour Revision) Order 2013:

Environmental Mitigation: Project level Habitats Regulation Appraisal will be required and the mitigation included in the Habitats Regulation Appraisal Record should be used to inform planning processes and be applied as appropriate.

National Planning Framework 3 Strategic Environmental Assessment (as updated)

Ongoing Activity and Milestones:

Marine Licence being pursued for Rosyth International Container Terminal.  Environmental Impact Assessment Scoping Report and Opinion for dredging works were published in 2014.The Scoping Report has been revised following comments from Marine Scotland and confirmation of the scoping is awaited

National development to be reflected in planning authority development plans as they are reviewed

Work in connection with the Marine Licence application, including the preparation of an updated Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), is progressing. The marine geotechnical investigation is complete and the land based geotechnical investigation will start shortly. In order to supplement the available coastal survey data, an aerial survey of the adjacent intertidal area has been undertaken. The additional information obtained will be used to enhance the EIA.

The land based geotechnical investigation work is complete. The site exploration activities were undertaken between October and November 2015 involving the sinking of numerous boreholes, excavating trial pits and the use of sonic coring techniques . Extensive laboratory testing of the borehole and trial pit samples extracted from the site is also complete.

In accordance with Marine Licensing Regulations a Marine Licence Pre-Application Public Consultation event was held at the Elgin Hotel, Charlestown on Thursday 23 June 2016. Twenty five storyboards covering topics relevant to the forthcoming RICT Marine Licensing application were on display. In addition a number of subject matter experts were on hand to speak to members of the public and answer questions raised throughout the day. A total of 55 people attended the event. The Marine Licence Application will be formally submitted to Marine Scotland in August 2016.