Management appointments at Stornoway Port Authority

22 August 2022

Stornoway Port Authority has announced two senior appointments to its management team as work on the port’s new £49 million deep water terminal proceeds.

Alasdair Smith has been appointed harbourmaster, while Stephen Macdonald takes the role of operations manager.

Captain Smith joined the port authority as berthing master/marine pilot in 2017 following a 40-year maritime career, encompassing a variety of vessels and shore posts, primarily in subsea construction and offshore wind farm construction, and including a three-year spell on operation mobilisation vessels.

More recently, he has held the post of assistant harbourmaster/marine pilot. In 2019, Alasdair took a six-month sabbatical to serve as master on board the vessel Pressure Drop for the Five Deeps project, which definitively identified the deepest point of each of the five oceans and successfully completed the first manned submersible dives to these five depths.

Stephen Macdonald has worked at the port since 2020 as engineering manager. He trained as an engineer with Zodiac Martime, working on container vessels and subsequently for Subsea 7.

Stornoway Port Authority chief executive, Alex Macleod, said the appointments would help ensure the organisation’s management structure is ready to meet the significant new requirements of the deep water terminal, which is due be completed by the end of next year.

Mr Macleod said: “We are very pleased to announce the appointments of Alasdair and Stephen as we prepare to open this new gateway to the Outer Hebrides.

“Experienced professionals such as Alasdair and Stephen will ensure that we can adapt to the increasing demands created by some of the largest cruise vessels in the world visiting the harbour on a regular basis.”