Specialist barge could make third visit for transformer delivery

Dale Spridgeon, Local Democracy Reporter

Spectators could be in for another chance to see an unusual delivery of a giant electrical transformer onto a Welsh beach if permissions and a marine licence are granted.

The specialist cargo barge the Terra Marique could be making a third visit to help deliver more equipment for the Trawsfynydd sub-station.

Organisers are currently progressing the paper work which could see a third maritime operation at Black Rock Sands, Morfa Bychan, near Porthmadog.

If it goes ahead, the delivery will likely follow in the same vein as two previous events in 2020 and 2023.

Once unloaded, the huge equipment will be transported by road, approximately 12 miles to the site of the decommsioned nuclear plant.

The 80ft Terra Marique is a specialist heavy transport barge owned and operated by Robert Wynn and Sons Ltd.

The company’s website says it has a “specially strengthened hull to allow the craft to beach land “with minimal need for on site preparation thus facilitating direct delivery to coastal and waterway sites”.

It is designed for transporting abnormal and heavy loads, particularly in the power and nuclear sectors, and is a key vessel for coastal and inland waterway deliveries in the UK and Europe.

The scale of the operation, with cranes and heavy duty trucks used to remove the equipment from the vessel, has previously brought out crowds of people.

Expected this year

At a meeting of the Porthmadog Harbour Consultative Committee Bryn Pritchard-Jones, maritime services manager, said a delivery by the Terra Marique was expected to happen later in the year.

“The company is extremely professional, we will have to close the main entrance of course for a couple of days but there is an alternative access.

He added that delivery provided “a source of income” and that the harbour staff took part in the supervision, planning and control of the waters as the vessel navigated the beach area.

A spokesperson for Robert Wynn and Sons Ltd, said: “In order to carry out a beach landing at Black Rock Sands a marine licence is required, as is permission from the Crown Estate & Gwynedd Council as ‘landowners’.

“We have submitted a Marine Licence application to Natural Resources Wales and are currently in the middle of the consultation period on our application, following which we would hope that a marine licence will be granted”.

A public notice has been posted in the Cambrian News under the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009, calling for a Part 4: Marine Licensing application, for a marine licence for a beach landing at Black Rock Sands, Morfa Bychan.

It states that Robert Wynn & Sons has applied to Natural Resources Wales, acting on behalf of the Licensing Authority, for a marine licence, for the beach landing.