Port of Nigg becomes first ‘customs site’ at green freeport

Port of Nigg has been awarded customs site status in a move Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport (ICFGF) described as a “significant development milestone”.

The awarded status allows the port to sit outside the UK’s normal customs rules, meaning the space benefits from simplified processes and reduced costs associated with handling goods to and from the area.

The space has already brought in Japanese firm Sumitomo which aims to create a £350 million subsea cable manufacturing plant that it claims will create more than 150 jobs in the area.

Sumitomo announced in January that it had signed a capacity reservation agreement (CRA) with SSEN Transmission for the Shetland 2 project.

This initiative requires a 525kV HVDC cable for a 530 mile (330km) link from Shetland to the Scottish mainland.

Port of Nigg is operated by Global Energy Group, a founding member of ICFGF, and was selected as the first site to apply for the status within the free port.

© Supplied by Sumitomo Electric

Rory Gunn, facilities director at Port of Nigg, said: “As a large and established hub facility within the energy industry, the customs site status will further enhance our competitiveness, especially in the offshore renewables sector.

“It will enable us to attract new opportunities and provide benefits to our existing and future clients.

“In the future, we hope that more components for the energy industry will be manufactured and moved through the port and make use of the customs site benefits. The HV/DC cables which will be manufactured at the new Sumitomo Electric factory are a good example of new products that will be loaded in and out of the port.

“The designation is a critical component of the green freeport and is a key driver of inward investment and growth.”

Gunn explained that the award will bring company spending to the region “which in turn creates local jobs and opportunities”.

Port of Nigg meets HMRC’s ‘stringent criteria’

The status award from HMRC followed site audits and tests to determine if the Port of Nigg “could meet stringent criteria as an operator”.

The operations of the port will be monitored by HMRC to ensure that the Pot of Nigg keeps up to standard.

Calum MacPherson, chief executive of ICFGF, commented: “The work and lessons learned will benefit other organisations within the green freeport that want to become customs sites.

“Port of Nigg has demonstrated the exceptionally high standards organisations will need to meet to operate these HMRC-regulated zones.”

He added that ports at his site do not handle “small consumer goods,” rather they handle large industrial shipments.

© Supplied by ICFGF

“Where our ports excel is in the handling of heavy engineering components for the energy sector, and this status significantly raises our potential as a major European hub for offshore wind and renewable energy technologies,” McPherson said.

“We’re operating in a global market, but the green freeport levers are enabling the Highlands to compete and – as we’ve seen from the significant inward investment already secured – win on the international stage.”

ICFGF needed to have at least one operational customs site to enable the Scottish and UK governments to approve its full business case.

Following the status award to Pot of Nigg, ICFGF expects to receive consent for its business case in “a matter of weeks”.

Last year fellow Scottish freeport site Forth Green Freeport (FGF) declared itself “open for business” after it received approval of its Outline Business Case and the designation of the freeport’s tax sites.

The freeports aim to provide tax incentives to firms in order to attract increased manufacturing capacity to accelerate the transition to net zero.