Loading Pier at Gortern Forest, Ardnamurchan
The pier is on the edge of Gorten Forest on the northern coast of Ardnamurchan initially planted by Tilhil in the mid 1960s. Areas of the forest are currently in the process being clearfelled and the timber extracted and lorry transported on upgraded forest road to a stacking point a few hundred metres from the loading pier. It is apparent that the two 6 wheel lorries are loaded with the timber at the stacking point after which they reverse down onto the linkspan bridge and fixed barge. The loading crane on the fixed barge is just visible and will be used to lift the timber from the lorries into the hold of the timber carrying vessels when they tie up alongside the fixed barge.
The company JST Services of Ayrshire have provided most of the high quality equipment seen on the day. This is a classic example of transport of timber by seagoing vessel providing the solution to transporting the forest timber products to mills from Scottish islands and very isolated localities with fragile public road systems.
The PDF link below has more views of the linkspan and anchored barge assembly.
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Groups: Forestry Areas, Ships, boats and sea transport, Timber lorries and loaders