The project will remove at least 800,000 lorry miles each year from the island’s fragile mainland roads and is expected to stimulate increased harvesting activity. Initially it will handle shipments of 50,000 tonnes annually.
The pier is being built at Fishnish by Forestry Commission Scotland and is expected to be operational by late summer. The facilities will be available to other public and private timber suppliers, and for bulk goods, opening up new markets and boosting timber values, the Commission said.
"Mull has a tremendous timber resource to tap, but transport costs off the island are high and therefore a constraint to marketing the timber off the island," said environment and climate change minister Paul Wheelhouse.
"With a reduction of haulage costs and more sites being opened up for harvesting, we should see an increase in Mull’s timber value and a reduction of pressure on rural roads."
The project aims to boost the island’s emerging woodfuel market and maintain supplies for established markets such as Kilmallie and other sawmills, and Iggesund cartonboard factory in Workington.
