Docks

Had a good day at work today.

Left straight after our staff meeting so got home a decent time. The weather was rubbish so I pulled in to the James Watt docks for a quick blip out the car window.

It was hard to choose my favourite shot as the best one had a raindrop on the lens, I also had some close ups of the tugs, which are my favourite regular boats on the river but I wanted to show the whole scene with the sugar sheds on the left, the tugs, the titan crane, and in the distance the cranes of ocean terminal.

Sugar refining began in Greenock in 1765. The most famous refinery (and successful, being the only survivor until August 1997) was Tate & Lyle. By the end of the 19th century, around 400 ships a year were transporting sugar from Caribbean holdings to Greenock for processing. There were 14 sugar refineries. When Tate and Lyle finally closed its Greenock refinery in 1997 it brought to an end the town's 150-year old connections with sugar manufacture. A newly built sugar warehouse continued shipping operations at Greenock's Ocean Terminal.

The James Watt Dock had a revival last year when the Tall Ships came to Greenock and the new James Watt marina has just opened, making use of the new features. There is also a local campaign to save the sugar sheds, during the tall ships they were used as performance venue and provided an excellent performance and exhibition space.

They also provided an interesting blip on an otherwise dull day.