A wall map in Stornoway’s harbour master’s office shows the waters of the Minch, and the treacherous rocky outcrops, bays and hazards that lurk around the fringes of the Western Isles.
Old school maps have long since been overtaken by digital versions, computer programmes and GPS signals, of course, yet barely a day passes that Alasdair Smith doesn’t glance at it.
“I like the paper charts,” the harbour master explains. “They’re big and I find them easy to work with. They’ve been round for centuries but in a few years’ time there won’t be any to be had.
“Computer charts are very good… but I’m old fashioned, I like to stand pouring over a paper chart, it’s big and it’s clear.”
The charts and his finely tuned mariner’s understanding of the Western Isles’ changeable weather and temperamental waters work hand in hand with modern technology: old ways that have stood centuries of sailors in good stead, in harmony with the new.
But, as a new BBC Alba documentary series that focuses on the evolving face of life at Stornoway’s busy harbour shows, time is moving fast at the gateway to the Western Isles.
Over the next few weeks, Stornoway Port Authority’s new Deep Water Terminal will host the last of the tourist season’s cruise ships. This weekend it’s the turn of the 700-passenger Azamara Quest and Nieuw Statendam, with space for up to 2,500 tourists across 12 passenger decks.
It comes with celebrity credentials – Oprah Winfrey named it and has hosted several events on board.
Next week, it’s CFC Renaissance on a 10-day British Isles cruise from Le Havre in France, and the eye-catching liner AIDAluna with its lipstick and funky eye artwork scrawled over its bow, currently on a 21-day tour from Hamburg with stops in Iceland, Greenland and Stornoway.
As it leaves, Oceania Marina’s 1500 passengers and 800 crew arrive on its 24 night Celtic Continental Joy cruise spanning England, Ireland, the Western Isles, Belgium, France and Spain.
And for harbour master Alasdair there’s also the luxurious £6000 per person Le Dumont D'Urville to prepare for, with its plush suites, on board swimming pool and a sauna offering a glimpse into how the other half live.
Between now and the end of October, Stornoway will host 17 cruise ships from the 333m long MSC Preziosa, with up to 3,500 passengers to the smallest, the 34-year-old Corinthian at 88 metres long and with 98 tourists on board.
They’ll close a six months’ cruise season that’s seen around 90 vessels, many berthing at the new £59 million Deep Water Terminal.
One of the Western Isles’ biggest construction challenges, its impact on the Stornoway’s landscape and people is explored in the new series, Port Steòrnabhaigh.
Filmed over several months, it spotlights the mammoth effort to dredge a million tonnes of sand and gravel from the seabed and blast a further million tonnes of rock to create quays where the cruise ships can berth.
Read more:
- Cruise ship becomes largest vessel to ever berth at Scots port
- CalMac ferry forced to make U-turn to allow cruise ship to dock
Alongside, ten hectares of land have been made available for other port activities, there’s a new 81 berth marina, a new MacDuff Shellfish factory and the Arnish fabrication yard has become part of the revived Harland & Wolff Group.
A vision laid down in a 2017 masterplan involving the £12 million regeneration of the port’s Goat Island and supported by Highlands and Islands Enterprise, the Scottish Government, and the Scottish Futures Trust has gradually come together – on time and within budget.
The series looks at day to day life for Stornoway Port Authority's staff, and how the construction of the new facility has touched locals’ lives, such as the community archaeology project set up to try to better understand the port’s history – with Stone Age finds uncovered by one dig – and how an estimated 80,000 cruise visitors a year are changing its businesses and residents.
Few have felt the impact of the Port’s new era more personally than its ‘old school’ harbour master.
He had 40 years at sea before switching to the harbour where his role spans guiding the biggest vessels to enter Stornoway waters to the new Deep Water facility, down to keeping watch on fishing boats and small yachts.
His additional role as harbour marine pilot means he’ll often be on the water, meeting huge liners in choppy waves, stepping from his boat onto a wobbly ladder and climbing up to a pilot door on the ship’s side.
Once inside, he heads to the bridge to help guide its approach.
Dangling from a ladder at the edge of a ship measuring up to three football pitches long is all in a day’s work: “It might sound all ‘gung-ho’ but I’m no Action Man,” he insists.
Sometimes though, the programme shows, the weather gets the better of planned arrivals.
He is seen using his decades of real-life experience and old-fashioned ‘analogue’ skills of reading maps and charts alongside modern technology to make the call that swirling water and high winds make it unsafe for a tanker carrying essential fuel to approach to the port.
“Technology is good but I’m glad I still have got the old analogue skills. This is not a video game, it’s the real world,” he says.
“I watch the wind all the time. I look out of the window at the front of my house and it’s fine, and by the time I get to the window at the back it’s blowing a gale.
“I’ve got almost 50 years of doing this.
“Sometimes the call has to be made. I’m the Harbour Master, I get the blame.”
Beyond the port, the new terminal has made an impression on the town.
Bus companies have employed extra staff for tours, even village halls are cashing in by opening toilets – for a small fee - to ensure no-one is caught short.
“The shops in town are definitely seeing it,” adds Alasdair. “The tweed shops are taking on extra staff and people are buying the things you’d expect, like Scottish gifts.
“But it’s also bringing business to shops you wouldn’t really expect.”
There’s talk of sales thriving at local pharmacies, newsagents and grocers. The Stornoway branch of ladies’ clothing shop, Peacocks, is said to have rethought its opening hours to meet cruise ship demand.
“They’re probably all wanting to buy raincoats,” jokes Alasdair.
At The Island Spirit Whisky Shop, owner Iain Faller can vouch for the ‘cruise effect’.
“It has been phenomenal; we’re seeing a big change,” he says.
“Stornoway, like any other town, has had its peaks and troughs and the recession hit badly.
“This year we’ve had the weather, the Euros. The amount of people in camper vans and visitors has dropped. The cruise ships have been our saving grace this summer.
“Our landlady’s shop sells clothes and gifts and there are times she is almost selling out.
“There’s a tech shop near me that sells computer games and fixes mobiles. He’s been selling phones and games consoles.
“It’s not just the passengers, these liners have crews who need day to day things like toothpaste and t-shirts.”
He’s also learned to deal with tourists’ questions: “One customer who wanted to know if they were still in the United Kingdom…”
With thousands more visitors, Port Authority bosses have examined other ports, including Kirkwall, to learn how they cope.
Chief Executive Alex Macleod says there have also been discussions with tourist attractions and visitor amenities to ensure they make the most of the opportunities.
And, there’ll be more changes further ahead, with the port a crucial component in the development of the islands’ renewable energy sector: offshore windfarms are planned, along with a 1.8-gigawatt inter-connector needed to transfer energy to the grid.
“We’re working with the council and Highland and Islands Enterprise to encourage communities and visitor attractions to gear up and get excursions to their area, so more passengers are exploring the culture around the island,” he says.
The new terminal is turning back the clock, to a time when Stornoway had huge status as an international harbour.
“When we look at our cruise itineraries, we are talking to people about the distance between Belfast and Stornoway, and Kirkwall and Stornoway.
“But also, now about the distance between Reykjavik, Hamburg and London to Stornoway, it’s so much further.
“One hundred years ago, we were exporting herring from here to Germany and Russia,” he says.
“We’re going back to being an international port.”
Port Steòrnabhaigh (in Gaelic with English subtitles) is on BBC ALBA every Wednesday at 8.30pm and is available on BBC iPlayer
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel