Amidst the noise of yesterday’s Budget was an interesting announcement calling for £4bn to transform up to five Scottish ports into industrial hubs by the end of this decade.

The call was made in a report which recommends developing a number of Scottish ports as quickly as possible in order to enable the roll-out of the 14 floating wind projects as part of the ScotWind Leasing round.

The report was published by the Floating Wind Offshore Taskforce, made up of industry body Scottish Renewables alongside the Scottish and Welsh Governments, the Northern Ireland Executive, major offshore wind and port developers, the Crown Estate, Crown Estate Scotland, RenewableUK, the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult and other key stakeholders.

In light of the recent Green Freeports decision, many ports and harbours around Scotland, and the supply chain which works with them, will be watching intently.

Those eyes will also be trained on the UK Government as to the Scottish location of one of 12 investment zones as part of yesterday’s Budget. The Scottish location is still to be announced, but could it be one which contributes to Scotland’s diverse marine economy?