AN ambitious plan to transform Fort William’s waterfront with millions of tonnes of rock could bring a huge influx of cruise ships, with tens of thousands more tourists visiting the town and the surrounding west Highlands.

Last week saw the arrival at the town of this year’s first cruise ship for the year, the Astoria, with about 800 passengers and crew on board. Another four ships are expected this year and already eleven have booked to call next year.

The growth has been made possible by the Fort William Marina and Shoreline Company (FWMSC). It raised £185,000 in grants to pay for a floating pontoon at the west end of the town’s waterfront, installed in 2016.

Ships can now moor in Loch Linnhe and bring passengers ashore in tender boats to the pontoons.

But more ships would come if they could disembark passengers straight to land, so the volunteer-run company is developing a plan for a huge new jetty sticking out 150m into the loch.

That would reach the deep water where the cruise ships could anchor and allow passengers to go ashore under their own steam.

The plan – which local MP Ian Blackford has called “exciting” – would need 2.8 million tonnes of rock and the company is hoping it can come from excavations for the Loch a’ Choire Ghlais pumped-storage hydro-electricity scheme planned a few miles away in the Great Glen.

If the 20m-wide jetty is built it could mean cruise ships visiting every day, bringing a flood of new tourists into the area to visit Fort William’s shops, cafes and pubs.

Other businesses could benefit too: last week a fleet of coaches was laid on to take Astoria passengers to attractions such as the Nevis Range ski centre, Glenfinnan and the Harry Potter rail viaduct, and the Commando Memorial near Spean Bridge. Taxis were ferrying other cruise visitors about.

Sarah Kennedy, the FWMSC secretary, said the organisation is already liaising with Scottish and Southern Energy, which is planning the hydro scheme, to see if rock brought to Fort William by boat along the Caledonian Canal could be dumped in the harbour to create the jetty.

“Hopefully that will then allow any cruise ship to come alongside,” Kennedy said. She believes it could mean 200 cruise ships visiting the town each year, and added: “It will cost a few million but if we can get the rock to extend out from the west end car park and get the buy-in from the council, MPs and MSPs it can be done – nothing is impossible.

People in Orkney raised concerns last year about the pressure on beauty spots and facilities brought by cruise-ship visitors, and residents in Skye have complained of being overrun with tourists.

But Kennedy says Fort William and the surrounding area could cope with the impact of such an influx. “The beauty of Fort William is that we can’t have the really huge cruise ships come up here because of the restrictions of the Corran Narrows, which is just 12m deep at times... the biggest ships can’t come. We could probably go up to 2000 passengers. We would only want one ship at a time, but we could cope with one a day forever.”

Astoria Captain Antonio Morais said: “We are always looking for new things to market and, yes, Fort William is great, there is so much to see in the area. With improvements to the infrastructure it could prove even more popular.”