24 July 2024
Hot on the heels of the Prime Minister, British Marine’s newly elected President, Robert Parton of Aqueduct Marina, travelled to Scotland in the first week of his presidency to support a British Marine Scotland sponsored Clipper Connect event in Oban, Argyll on sustainable marine tourism on Friday 19 July.
This visit followed closely on the heels of his journey to the Isle of Wight, where he attended The Yacht Harbour Association (TYHA) Coastal Networking Tour.
Commenting on the Clipper event Robert said: “The session illustrated the excellent work many marine businesses are doing to reduce their environmental impacts, but it also highlighted the need for government agencies to work far closer with industry so that more progress can be made.”
On route to Oban, Robert, who was accompanied by British Marine’s Public Affairs Adviser, Joanna Richardson, visited Rhu Marina, a Four Gold Anchor marina which is part of the Boatfolk Group and located northwest of Glasgow on the Firth of Clyde. Warmly welcomed by the marina’s very competent manager, Suzanne Bell, and her assistant manager Fiona Glover, they were given a tour of the marina and heard about the latest trends and local initiatives, as well as Rhu Marina’s ambitions for the future and their critical relationship with the Crown Estate Scotland.
From Rhu, Robert and Joanna travelled up to Loch Lomond, where they had a very constructive meeting with Stuart Cordner, Director of Cruise Loch Lomond and one of his skippers, Craig Jamieson.
Craig is also a qualified marriage celebrant able to conduct weddings onboard, although Scottish law still currently requires couples to legalise their marriage though a registry office. British Marine is pushing to have the law in both England and Scotland amended so that it becomes easier and more commonplace to marry onboard leisure / passenger boats.
Stuart explained that it was in the late 1970s his family spotted a gap in the market for cruises at the stunning northern end of Loch Lomond, and so began operating from Tarbet Pier. Today, they operate seven passenger cruise vessels making Cruise Loch Lomond the largest privately owned operator in Scotland. The company works hard to promote sustainable tourism, linking its own cruise schedule with trains and coaches to help minimise traffic and providing valuable ferry services that enable visitors, many of whom come from India and North America, to explore the landscape. It remains a very peaceful place, with plenty of potential to expand marine tourism, but ensuring there is adequate mooring infrastructure in place for the future will require the cooperation of Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park – a matter British Marine is keen to assist with.
Following the insightful Clipper Connect event at Oban, the next day Robert and Joanna took the opportunity to meet some of the Round the World skippers and tour two of the eleven 70ft Clipper race boats before heading off to visit more British Marine member businesses.
From Oban, Robert and Joanna drove south to Kip Marina, a 5 Gold Anchor marina which is part of the Holt Leisure Group and located in Greenock, 45 minutes west of Glasgow. Met by its marina master, Ian Rodger, and assistant marina master, Dan Mellor, they had a brief tour of the 600-berth marina and yard. Both Ian and Dan were very complimentary about the British Marine marina manager training courses and in particular the valuable networks such courses provide.
One point of concern raised was the challenge marinas can face in securing licenses for dredging / maintenance works due to lengthy bureaucratic application processes to Marine Scotland. This is another issue that British Marine, working through TYHA and British Marine Scotland (and aided by its Public Affairs team), is keen to help address.
Unfortunately the day went all too quickly so after Inverkip, Robert and Joanna were only able to make one final whistle stop visit to Largs Marina, Scotland's largest marina with over 700 berths and extensive onshore facilities. Joanna had a brief but very positive chat with haven master, Campbell Geddes, whilst Robert adjusted his satnav to get Joanna back in time for her flight home!
Reflecting on the trip Robert said: “I was so pleased we were able to combine the Clipper Event with visits to four member businesses as it reinforced to me the importance and value of meeting members actually at their sites. I am also really grateful for the time managers took to talk us through their operations, much of which is very positive, but also to hear about some of the challenges faced. I know British Marine will now be seeking to assist with some of the policy issues raised and meet the various membership asks.
During the trip we saw some excellent operations, so I think we can all learn a bit from how Scotland does things.”
