Councillors have approved plans to extend the dry dock at the Kishorn construction yard in the north-west Highlands.
The yard’s owners have promised the expansion will ultimately create at least 40 jobs.
The fledgling facility, at the site of a former oil industry fabrication yard that boomed in the 1970s, aims to decommission large marine structures including ships up to 820ft-long.
It can currently handle vessels up to 525ft-long.
The owners, Kishorn Port Ltd, say the extension will also allow it to better handle work from the renewables sector.
The dry dock was last used in the 1990s to produce two caissons to support the Skye Bridge.
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