This month, MPA archivist, John Aitken examines trends in vessel size and cargo being handled through the Port. Gross tonnage throughput at Montrose port has recorded a steady increase in recent years. In 2013 the annual figure was given as 1.7mn. Two years later it had grown to 2.08mn. The latest total for the past 12 months to the end Read more...

The Wet Dock at Montrose port was constructed under an Act of Parliament entitled “An Act for improving the harbour of the Burgh of Montrose in the County of Forfar”, dated July 3rd, 1837. Six years and 12 days later on July 15th, 1843 the dock was completed. There certainly was a pressing requirement for a Wet Dock. The 1830s Read more...

MPA archivist, John Aitken, takes us back to the days when “The Beerie” was a familiar sight at Montrose Port. Present day economists call it vertical integration or securing added value to a company or group’s method of supply. In modern jargon this is the practice where an in-house vessel or fleet of vessels is used to transport raw material/s Read more...

This month, MPA archivist, John Aitken charts the 104-year history of a Montrose-built steam tug. Due to undergo partial re-tubing of her boiler in Liverpool docklands is the Montrose-built steam tug Kerne. Launched from the Waterside yard of The Montrose Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. in late December, 1912 as the Viking, she was taken up by the Admiralty the following year Read more...

Montrose Port Archivist, John Aitken, has a wealth of fascinating Port history to share. This month, as we reach the centenary of the First World War, he explores the fate of schooner, the Ellen Kirstine. As World War One hostilities dragged on inexorably into their third year all manner of ships were pressed into service while others had their lifespan Read more...