Hili company plans new terminal in Scotland

Local businessman Marin Hili is close to operating his third container transhipment terminal in Europe after holding positive talks with the council of Orkney islands, on the northern tip of Scotland.

Mr Hili told The Times that in the coming weeks he expected to sign a memorandum of understanding with the council to embark on a project that could create between 200 and 300 jobs.

Construction at the proposed hub, at Lyness, could begin as early as 2008.

The Hili company, which already owns container transhipment terminals in Latvia and Venice, expressed an interest in the project after receiving two business plans from Orkey Harbours.

Mr Hili, accompanied by technical staff, recently held two days of talks in Orkney with representatives from Orkney Islands Council and Orkney Harbours.

He believes that Orkney is an ideal place for a development of a transhipment terminal.

"From my point of view we can see there are good prospects for a transhipment container terminal. We are very interested to be part of it.

"The meetings were very fruitful and I look forward to working closely with the Council and the Harbour Authority to develop the project. We viewed the business plans with interest and now there is a clear roadmap for us to follow."

Mr Hili said there was no point developing this project on a small scale since the volumes involved in such a hub would be relatively high.

Ships use hubs to reduce their transport costs, since they are able to make fewer trips and, therefore, generate more profit.

Councillor James Stockan is also pleased that the Maltese company is on board.

"This is an incredibly exciting time for us to link up with people with the experience that the Hili Company have.

"We want everything to be absolutely secure and to everyone's mutual benefit so that we end up with something that is of value to the operator, the shipping company and, from our side, the people of Orkney.

Mr Hili is also a former Malta Freeport chairman.