First barges to be built at Arnish in nearly half a century sail away
17 July 2024
Two river barges built in the Western Isles are on a delivery voyage to their new home.
Another three similar barges will be constructed at the Harland & Wolff site over the coming months.
Named after rivers in Ireland, Erne and Lagan, the vessels are being towed by small tugs around the north of Scotland to their new home in London.
The barges are the first in almost half a century to be constructed at the Arnish yard
The vessels were completed almost 47 years to the month since the 91-metre-long Lonka
was built for Heerema Shipping at the site, then operated by Norwegian-owned Lewis
Offshore.
Harland & Wolff has a contract to built 33 of the vessels across its sites at Belfast, Fife and Stornoway for Cory.
The barges will join Cory’s existing fleet of tugs and barges on the River Thames,
and will be used to transport large skips and containers of recyclable and non-recyclable
waste.
Cory is the largest commercial operator on the Thames, and its use of the river to transport waste removes around 100,000 truck journeys from London’s roads each year.
Cory placed an initial order of 12 barges with Harland & Wolff in 2022, A further 11 barges were added to the contract, doubling the value of the deal to £18 million.
The barges will play a vital role in Cory’s growth plans as it requires a bolstered fleet of tugs and barges to transport waste along the river to its planned new, and second, processing facility converting waste to heat.
So far, eight been completed at Belfast and six at Methil, and now one in Lewis.
