"RED SKY AT NIGHT"

Fifteen minutes after sunset looking south west over Hunterston Terminal at Fairlie and the Cumbrae Islands

The jetty head is the largest stucture of its kind in Britain in about 36 meters (118 feet) of water and can accommodate ships of up to 150 metres in length.

Iron Ore used to be taken from the holds of ships by the two ship uploaders each with a capacity of 3,000 tonnes per hour. These uploaders with a height of 72 meters (236 feet) and each weighing 2,500 tonnes are among the largest in the world.

The terminal has an overhead conveyor and unloading at a rate of 2800 tonnes of coal per hour and linked to a railhead on the Ayrshire coast. The conveyor can also load coal into smaller ships to be transported to Manchester and Belfast amongst other places.

Since British Steel Ravenscraig closed down in 1992 only coal for use in coal fired power stations has been unloaded at Hunterston.

All quiet this evening matching the calm of the night with no vessels waiting to load or unload.