Montrose Port Authority is to spend £4.5 million on a major upgrade of the dockside in the hope of attracting further North Sea oil and gas business.
The port has seen a major uplift in activity since it completed an £8.5m revamp of two deep-water berths on the south side of the river.
The new facilities were officially opened by Transport Minister Keith Brown in July last year and docking slots have been in huge demand.
The MPA is now looking to further capitalise on the opportunity provided by an uptick in activity in the North Sea by upgrading berths six and seven at the Angus town’s docks.
If their plans are approved by Marine Scotland, the port expects work to begin by summer and the redevelopment to be complete around 12 months later.
The initial project attracted a £3.2m freight facilities grant from the Scottish Government, but it is understood that similar assistance for the new project is unlikely and MPA are exploring ways to fund the build.
Chief executive John Paterson said demand for space at the port had increased substantially in recent years.
He said: “We opened the deep-water berths (numbers one and two) on the south side of the river in 2011, and since then we have made a huge success of attracting the oil and gas trade in particular.
“Because of that, and because of the poorer condition of the berths on the north side, we are doing a major repair and upgrade of berth seven and a total renewal of berth six.”
Among the goods which regularly pass over the quayside at berths six and seven are fertilisers, wood pulp used to make paper, logs and steel.
Although the refurbished docks will not add significant extra capacity, Mr Paterson said they would make Montrose even more attractive to clients both old and new.
“We want to build on the success of the previous project and we are taking this forward at a time when we have more than doubled our oil and gas shipping tonnage,” Mr Paterson said.
“I live in Aberdeen and I do a lot of work in Aberdeen and everybody in the oil and gas industry is speaking about opportunities in Montrose nowadays.
“It may be that some of them didn’t even know there was a port in Montrose, but Montrose is on the map now.”