The delay in completing the new terminal at Scrabster could be costing the contractor concerned £50,000 a week in penalties, it has been claimed this week.

The claim appeared in the trade journal New Civil Engineer .

In an article about the new harbour project at Scrabster, the magazine suggested that it would be standard practice in civil engineering contracts for damages of £50,000 a week to be charged for projects which ran over the original duration of a contract.

The magazine calculated that if, as rumoured, the new terminal would not be ready until the end of this year, although it should have been finished on August 20, then the main contractor, Mowlem Marine, would incur penalties of £1.15 million for the late delivery of the project.

No one from Mowlem would comment on the report. They instead referred all calls about the matter to their clients Scrabster Harbour Trust.

In a curt statement issued yesterday, the trust refused to comment on the amount of possible damages they might be seeking from Mowlem for the delay in completing the new terminal.

A trust spokesman said: “The financial aspects of the contract are a matter between the trust and the contractor.”

NorthLink have, in turn, said that they would be looking for some degree of compensation from Scrabster Harbour Trust for not being able to use their new ferry Hamnavoe on the Pentland Firth service, until the new terminal is ready.

Archive stories: Legal action threatened over Scrabster delay
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