the initial years, Liam studied for International Safety
Management (ISM) certification. He then took over the
full management from the company that had initially been
employed to do this. He was quick to point out that in
the early days he was helped by being able to persuade
the officers and crew of both MV Burhou and MV Isis to
venture north to crew these vessels.
“They initially weren’t very keen to come up,” he said.
“However, they soon started to enjoy the challenge of
operating in and out of the piers and harbours of the area.
I fondly described them as like the guys in Dad’s Army.
They were all older but had years of experience operating
these smaller vessels and could cope with the day-to-
day workloads and challenges. That said, things weren’t
always smooth. On one particular sailing, one of our
vessels collided with a major lighthouse entering a port
in northwest England, leading to a significant insurance
claim for reinstatement of the lighthouse, as well as a new
bow section for the vessel.”
Despite this setback, with the three vessels, business
was good and both the MV Burhou and MV Isis were
the workhorses that allowed GGSC to grow. In 2016, the
company entered into a joint venture with a German
company, Cargo Export Group GmbH, allowing it to take
over management of the vessels they were operating.
“We are the majority shareholder in the company, but
we now charter our ships from them and they do all the
management,” said Liam. “This company has the ISM
responsibility for the ships and crew. This has allowed
us to sell the MV Burhou and MV Isis and bring newer
vessels into operation.”
Now joining the CEG Cosmos are the CEG Universe
and CEG Galaxy. The CEG Galaxy, in particular, offers a
higher cubic-metre carrying capacity. It is 65 m in length,
some 20 m or so bigger than the company’s first vessel,
MV Kanutta. However, these vessels still have the ability
to operate in and out of the west coast ports, piers, and
harbours. The ships are all around 30 years old, of an age
that allows GGSC to use them for another five to 10 years.
“It is becoming increasingly difficult to find ships of
the size we operate,” said Liam. “Most of these smaller
ships now are of 3,500 tonnes rather than the 1,000 to
1,500 tonnes that we need. It was sad to see both the MV
Burhou and MV Isis go, as they had been great servants
to us. Their sale also saw the officers and crew move into
retirement as well.”
As well as Iggesund at Workington and the BSW K2
sawmill, GGSC also supplies sawn logs to the Murray
Timber Group in the Republic of Ireland via Wicklow port.
Liam has been able to plan and organise other cargoes
to be hauled either around other ports in the Republic or
back across the Irish Sea to keep the ships working to
capacity, which is key to having a profitable business.
Shipping timber can have the same issues as hauling
by road, with inevitable breakdowns, accidents or minor
hiccups affecting ships.
“The west of Scotland sea bed has a lot of granite rocks,
unlike the south of England, where it is mostly sand and
silt,” said Liam. “These rocks can be very unforgiving on
the vessels if they hit them, even on the smallest of bumps.
Sadly, things can happen to the ships as a result, but we
just get things fixed and move on.”
CEG Cosmos is currently being converted to be self-
loading and -discharging. Liam said: “We now use a
Leibherr with good reach and lift capability, complete
with either a timber grab or clamshell bucket. We fix
72 AUGUST 20 19 FORESTRYJOURNAL.CO.UK
rails along each side of the ship for the excavator to be
mounted on. It then tracks up and down the deck via
hydraulic motors, which allows us to load and offload
cargoes. Being self-sufficient is part of our appeal.”
Much of GGSC’s success is due to its ability to keep the
ships working hard, with the aim of having each operating
with two to three cargoes per week.
“60 per cent of the cargo that we carry is timber and
we ship road salt for Highland Council and quarry stone
for Breedon Aggregates,” said Liam. “We continue to ship
coal to Stornoway and building materials to the Outer
Hebrides. We carry animal feeds, wheat and cement in
and around some of the Irish ports.”
In Liam’s mind, the business is at a nice size, with a
long-term charter now having been taken out on a fourth
ship, Liva Greta, to add to the fleet.
“We probably are now operating some of the last small
coastal vessels in the UK,” he said. “We are equipped to
cover the timber and general cargo markets with these
ships. If I am honest, a problem might come in the next
five to 10 years when we attempt to find ships of their size
to replace them. I have exhausted most of the contacts for
such ships in Europe to get the vessels we have currently.”
The future vessel it may operate could, in fact, be a
sea or river vessel which could have a ‘cut and shunt’ to
make a smaller ship, capable of being used in a similar
way to the coastal vessels that GGSC uses today. “The
Norwegians have done it, so it is doable,” said Liam.
“However, they use these shortened vessels to move fish
feed. This cargo is a much more lucrative cargo than
timber to carry, making such modifications cost effective
and worth doing.”
At the time of Forestry Journal’s visit, the timber
market was in a dip, with less demand from the sawmills.
However, Liam was philosophical, having experiencedTop: MV Burhou with a
load of logs bound for
Corpach.Above: The Leibherr
being used to load logs
onto MV Burhou.TIMBER HAULAGE