Harbour welcomes its largest ever cruise ship thanks to pier upgrade
3rd August 2022
Scrabster Harbour on the north coast of Scotland has hosted its largest ever cruise ship recently, with the port able to welcome larger ships thanks to an upgrade to the pier.
The Holland America Line ship Zaandam became the largest vessel to berth at the Caithness port when she visited on 30 July.
The 61,396gt ships has a length of 781ft and brought around 1,100 passengers when she moored alongside St Ola Pier.
Scrabster is the most northerly mainland commercial port in the UK. Last year, a £40 million transformation was completed, that had been taking place for over 10 years.
The upgrade to the St Ola Pier means the harbour is now deeper to allow for bigger ships to come into port.
Scrabster Harbour was one of several calls for Zaandam during her 19-day Voyage of the Vikings cruise. This started in Rotterdam and finishes in the US port of Boston.
Passengers enjoyed a number of excursions around the local area before departing for the Icelandic port of Seydisfjordur.
In the past few years Kirkwall in Orkney has been the top cruise destination in the UK with around 186 ships expected to arrive this year alone.
