History
In December 1967, the Forth Harbour Reorganisation Scheme, constituting Forth Ports Authority (“FPA”), became law by Act of Parliament. Forth Ports was a public trust port responsible for six ports grouped within the Firth of Forth namely - Leith (a trust administered port), Granton (a private company), Grangemouth, Methil and Burntisland (all controlled by British Transport Docks Board) and Kirkcaldy (owned by the Burgh of Kirkcaldy).
In 1975 and 1984 marine terminals became operational within the Firth of Forth at Hound Point and Braefoot Bay respectively.
In 1988 FPA assumed responsibility for the provision of pilotage within the Firth of Forth.
In July 1989, the National Dock Labour Scheme (“the Scheme”) was abolished which enabled ports which were originally under the Scheme to change radically their labour practices.
In July 1991 Royal Assent was granted to The Ports Act providing that any trust port could, with the consent of the Secretary of State, become a private limited company.
In 1992 FPA successfully transferred into the private sector as Forth Ports and was listed on the London Stock Exchange on 23rd March 1992.
In 1995 Forth Ports acquired the Port of Tilbury London Limited ("POTL") on the Thames and the Port of Dundee Limited on the River Tay.
In 1997 the Port of Rosyth was established and in 1999, Forth Ports acquired further land at Rosyth which enabled the port area to be extended to nearly 100 acres.
In 2004 Forth Ports acquired a 50% shareholding in Multi-Link Terminals Limited (“MLT”) a container terminal operator with terminals in Finland (Helsinki and Kotka) and Russia (Kotlin Island, St. Petersburg).
In 2006 Forth Ports sold its interest in MLT following a decision by MLT’s other shareholder to acquire back Forth Ports’s shares in MLT.
In 2007, Forth Ports acquired the Nordic Group of companies based at Chatham in Kent.
Property
Areas of land, particularly in the Port of Leith were deemed surplus to operational requirements and so a masterplan was prepared for the regeneration of these sites.
In 1992 planning consent was granted for redevelopment of the older, shallower areas around Victoria Dock and The Water of Leith. This led to the development of a new Headquarters for the Scottish Executive (previously the Scottish Office), the Malmaison Hotel and the first residential development in the Port at Rennie’s Isle.
Further consents were achieved in 1995 for the redevelopment of the Grade “A” listed stone warehouses on Commercial Street and No 1 Shed at Albert Dock. These developments provided an interesting mix of offices, apartments, shops and restaurants.
Planning consent was granted in 1998 to allow construction of Ocean Terminal, a major shopping centre and leisure development. After strong competition from locations around the UK, Forth Ports was successful in its bid to bring the Royal Yacht Britannia to the Port of Leith. The Royal Yacht now has a permanent berth alongside Ocean Terminal and is owned by an independent Charitable Trust.
July 2002 brought outline planning approval for a 3,000 apartment development at Western Harbour in Leith, together with a supermarket and 50,000 sq.m. of offices.
Further consent was achieved in April 2003 principally for a 3,400 apartment development at Granton Harbour.
In February 2005, the principle of redeveloping the remainder of the Port of Leith for mixed use development was approved by the City Council as Supplementary Planning Guidance. It is intended that a "capital city" port facility will be retained to handle cruise liners, ferries, naval visits and other maritime events for Edinburgh and Scotland.
New roads have been constructed through the Port of Leith to serve the development sites and new bus services provided to link with the City Centre and surrounding area. The City Council are progressing proposals for a new tram system to link the development areas at Leith and Granton with the main rail stations at Haymarket and Waverley.
In 2008, the Leith Docks Development received planning approval for nine urban villages on a 144 hectare brownfield site. In December 2008, the planning for the first two of these villages at The Harbour, Leith Docks was submitted to City of Edinburgh Council.
The revised masterplan for Granton was approved in March 2009 and now permits the development of almost 3,500 homes at the waterfront.
