£500K investment for Holyhead cruise ship jetty

The deep water jetty at Holyhead port is receiving an upgrade that will make it more attractive for cruise ship passengers and prepare it for a new use, according to North Wales Live.

Work has begun on the £500,000 upgrade of the Orthios jetty at Holyhead – currently being used as a base for sea trials and training by the polar research vessel the RSS Sir David Attenborough.

The upgrade is said to serve two purposes – including getting the jetty ready to receive plastics for recycling for Orthios’ Plastics-to-Oil facilities at the former Anglesey Aluminium site.

Business Live reports that the upgrade, being managed for Orthios by Cadarn Consulting of Anglesey, will also benefit Welsh tourism as Orthios said it will make the jetty “more attractive” to cruise ships when the holiday industry revives.

Orthios CEO, Sean McCormick, says: “Cruise traffic dropped off almost entirely in 2020 due to the pandemic but we already have 20+ bookings for later this year, with each liner expected to bring hundreds of passengers and their spending power into the region.

“But the jetty improvements will also support the longer-term direction of Orthios as we step up our efforts to help combat climate change by bringing in unwanted plastics and using our innovative, carbon-light technology to break plastics down into re-useable materials and clean, green, sustainable energy.”

The Orthios jetty will remain open throughout the engineering works allowing the RSS Sir David Attenborough to keep using the site.