The halcyon days of shipbuilding on the banks of the Tay are long gone. But they are still remembered with fondness for the jobs they offered and wealth created.
While some of that view is coloured by time and rose-tinted spectacles, it is undeniable the modern city port has never quite reached the heady heights it once did.
But recent years have seen major new investment in quayside facilities at Dundee in anticipation of a resurgence of heavy engineering in and around the river as the offshore renewables sector locally matures.
The £3 billion Seagreen wind farm – which is taking shape off the coast of Angus and has just claimed a world record for installation of the world’s deepest turbine foundation – is the first major step along that road.
While it is disappointing the project does not involve the localised fabrication of the giant steel structures which are being erected out in the North Sea, it still represents a major uptick in work for the Port of Dundee and for Montrose and others too.
Dundee and Angus communities must see benefits of renewables boom
It would be churlish not to recognise that fact and deny the wider opportunities that the renewables sector is beginning to generate in Scottish waters.
Seagreen is just one of several wind farm projects being progressed in the outer firths of Tay and Forth, with a collective development value in the multi-billions.
That is money that needs to provide long-term benefit to the communities which will live in the lee of these arrays for generations to come.
In a globalised, cost-sensitive industry such as renewables, there is always a risk it won’t happen – or at least it may not provide the scale of opportunity that some hope for.
And that is where political pressure must be brought to bear.
There is too great a prize to be won for it to be left to chance.
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