After a century of naval use the site was vacated by the British Ministry of Defence in 1995, leaving possibly the best marine fuelling locations on the UK south coast due to the level of weather protection within the inner harbour at Portland and favourable prevailing winds.

The facility offers two dedicated anchorage areas, one located in the Inner Harbour and the other in the Outer Harbour which can service vessels up to 19m draft. Deliveries by barge will be provided by the 2,500 ton capacity double hulled Brabourne . PBI have built a new 200m jetty specifically designed to receive tanker deliveries at the inner breakwater of Portland Harbour, which can accommodate ships up to 48,000 ton displacement.

Alongside this, a major refurbishment of the existing berth has been completed to provide a secondary transfer location. This will allow bunker barges to take on fuels when either a tanker or another bunker barge is moored at the new jetty.

Initially marine fuel oils and marine gas oil are being supplied, with the introduction of low sulphur fuels planned in time to meet new regulations in 2006/07.

BP is also intending to offer ships a waste removal service, including a Marpol liquid waste disposal service, which is due to start next month.

Given the location of the bunker facility close to both land and marine areas of ecological and environmental importance, a range of special permissions were required prior to planning consent being granted.

An independent environmental impact assessment of the development concluded that the bunkering facility would not significantly change the existing baseline environmental conditions.

MJ Information No: 20623