A NEW floating pier is to be built at Ardcastle Forest on the shores of Loch Fyne to extract timber from plantations in the Forestry Commission’s West Argyll area.
The Ardcastle pier will be similar to this example at Glenelg, near Kyle of Lochalsh.
With harvesting on the increase and the nearby Ardrishaig Pier already busy, the new development will enable greater quantities of timber to be shipped to wood processors, unlocking an estimated £10 million of the region’s growing timber supplies. With a £123,000 grant from the Scottish Government’s Strategic Timber Transport Scheme, an estimated 250,000 tonnes of timber could be shipped from the Ardcastle pier over the next 10 years. The pier will be able to take larger boats in deeper water and cut down the need for using timber wagons on fragile rural roads, saving 3.5 million lorry miles. The funding is being awarded to John Scott Floating Piers Ltd and the pier will be open to everyone wishing to transport tim ber. The pier and shore-side infrastructure is planned to be around 3,500 square metres in size and will be able to stack around 3,000 tonnes of timber in advance of a vessel arriving.