Stornoway (Isle of Lewis and Harris, Scotland)

Stornoway is a port town on Isle of Lewis, part of Scotland's Outer Hebrides (Western Isles). The town has population around 8,000, ranking it biggest in the Hebrides. Stornoway is a major seaport of Outer Hebrides, serving both passenger ships (ferries and cruise liners) and cargo ships.

Stornoway harbour houses small shipyard, slipway (boat ramp), boat marina (with yacht moorings), 3 large docking piers (for commercial ships), Stornoway Lifeboat Station (run by Royal National Lifeboat Institution). Here is homeported a large fishing fleet and Tom Sanderson (lifeboat). HMCG (UK coastguard) operates the Maritime Rescue Sub Centre is also housed in the harbour area.

In 2007, were proposed plans for building an undersea tunnel between Harris and Lewis and mainland Scotland (Stornoway-Ullapool). One of the possible routes would be over 40 mi (60 km) long - ranking it the world's longest road tunnel.

The annual Hebridean Celtic Festival (HebCelt) is a 4-day event in July attracting over 10,000 tourists. Black pudding is a popular gourmet dish with PGI status - granted by European Commission to prevent puddings produced elsewhere to be marketed as "Stornoway". Stornoway is best known for Harris Tweed Hebrides (UK's main producer of the fabric), Callanish Stones (5000-years-old arrangement of standing stones), Lewis Chessmen (12th-century chess pieces carved from walrus ivory), Gearrannan Blackhouse Village (Holiday accommodation complex), also some of the UK's/world's most picturesque beaches. The town's most notable buildings include Lews Castle, Stornoway Town Hall, Lewis War Memorial, Lewis Loom Centre, Lanntair (modern art centre with gallery, auditorium, bar, restaurant).

In 2017, the cruise port handled a total of 43 ship calls. In 2019 were handled 57 ship calls and ~16,500 cruise tourists, arriving mostly on smaller-sized vessels. Maiden port calls in 2019 made Queen Victoria (Cunard), Hanseatic Nature (Hapag-Lloyd), Le Champlain (Ponant), Zuiderdam (Holland America), AIDAaura (AIDA), Crystal Serenity (Crystal Ocean), Star Pride (Windstar).

In February 2021, Stornoway Port Authority received GBP 48,6 million (~EUR 56.6M / ~USD 66,75M) for building a new deepwater cruise terminal with capacity to handle even the world's largest passenger ships (with max LOA length 360 m / 1181 ft and max draught 10 m / 33 ft). Works on the new facility started in April 2022 and were initially scheduled for completion in May 2023, but the inauguration was eventually postponed to 2024. The new Deep Water Terminal also allows homeporting operations as Stornoway is a good departure port for ex-UK itineraries to Iceland and the Faroes. The port is also an overnight crossing to/from Belfast, Greenock-Glasgow, Invergordon and Kirkwall.

Stornoway cruise terminal