Forth Ports, which operates six harbours in Scotland and one on the River Thames, said yesterday it had made good progress with several renewable-energy initiatives.
The Edinburgh-based group revealed it had identified potential opportunities for multi-fuel plants at its ports and erected monitoring systems at two of them to assess their suitability for future onshore wind-power developments.
Forth, whose sites include Dundee and five in the Firth of Forth – Leith, Grangemouth, Rosyth, Methil and Burntisland – plus Tilbury, near London, said last year it was looking to develop green-energy projects at the sites.
It teamed up with Perth-based power firm Scottish and Southern Energy in a new venture, Forth Energy, to take initiatives forward.
At the time, Forth declared its intention to invest in the generation, distribution and supply of energy for commercial sale and to power its ports.
In a trading update yesterday, the firm said the joint venture was now looking at the potential for alternative-fuel options at the sites.
Monitoring equipment already installed at Dundee and Grangemouth will provide data showing whether they are good sites for onshore wind-power schemes.
Meanwhile, planning consent has been granted for four wind turbines at Tilbury to generate part of its electricity requirements. Forth added: “We have opened discussions with a shortlist of energy companies to build and operate this facility.”
The group, which also operates a port terminal at Chatham, in Kent, under the Nordic banner, said its business was generally holding up well as it neared the end of the first half of its current trading year.
It added: “Traditionally, our trading performance has been weighted towards the second half of the year.
“Although forecasting for the full year is difficult, given current economic uncertainties, we believe that the outcome will be satisfactory.”
Forth, which expects to report interim results on August 27, said its first-half trading performance was likely to be in line with last year – apart from material-recycling business Nordic and Tilbury Container Services, which were more severely affected by the economic downturn.
The group added: “Cash generation from operations remains good, with tight controls on expenditure.
“We are on target to reduce our group debt by the end of the year.”
Results announced by the company in March showed a 34% increase in annual underlying profits after a record year for its ports.
The group, which also has a property division, posted underlying pre-tax profits of £37million for 2008, up from £27.6million the previous year, with earnings at the port division up 23%.
Results including writedowns and provisions on the value of property saw Forth swing into the red, with pre-tax losses of £30.7million.
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