The Falkland Islands Development Corporation (FIDC) wants to build the islands' first full-service marina: 20 to 25 berths in a first phase at the Government Jetty in Stanley, kept small so private investors can pay for all of it. Haskoning, the engineering group that absorbed the Scottish firm Arch Henderson in March 2025, is due to hand over its feasibility study in September 2026. Haskoning marine engineer Gosse de Boer calls safe berthing "the one thing that is missing in the entire Falklands."
Yachts running to and from the Antarctic Peninsula, about 1,200 km south, lie at anchor in Stanley Harbour, exposed to frequent westerly gales, and crews get ashore by tender. The shore side is thinner still: one small concrete pontoon at the Public Jetty, a different site from the proposed marina, plus two private marinas and a few private docks — many of them, by FIDC's own April 2025 request for proposals, in poor condition or too shallow to be safe.
The Stanley marina proposal
De Boer's notes on the site read like a list of things that cost money. The ground under the Government Jetty has poor bearing capacity and has to be improved or replaced. The berths would still catch wind and waves despite the harbour's shelter, so he wants a "pretty significant breakwater." Depth runs from two to five metres, which pushes the design towards shallow-draft boats, away from dredging. The kelp on nearby shorelines has to be worked around too: partly for the environment, partly to keep the maintenance bills down.
"We want to make sure the initial investment and capital expenditure is low," de Boer told Marina World. "For private parties to step in and for the marina to be realised, you have to start small."
Private investors, no public money
FIDC has ruled out the Falkland Islands Government budget. "We will need to design a financing mechanism that is not reliant on public funds," managing director Zachary Franklin told the magazine. "There are a considerable number of businesses here, many of which are cash rich but do not have a lot of investment opportunities." He has floated a fund that local people and companies could pay into against a long-term return, plus foreign direct investment.
The ambition used to be much bigger. Franklin says a mixed-use waterfront scheme, stretching from the Falkland Islands Company east jetty to the ground in front of Government House, was drawn up about 12 years ago and went nowhere; the masterplan study on record dates from January 2012. This time FIDC put out a request for proposals in April 2025, counted 21 submissions, and picked Arch Henderson that December.
Who the berths are for
Stanley holds around 80% of the islands' 3,700 residents, which is a thin home market. The case rests on visitors: expedition yachts, round-the-world sailors and the ice-capable explorers that stage through the Falklands on the way south. FIDC has rejoined the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO), which runs a yacht committee. "Feedback from IAATO and the Falkland Islands Yacht Club has shown that, if given the opportunity to have a marina here, yacht owners and boaters would choose to spend their time in the Falklands," Franklin said.
De Boer is blunt about the gaps. "There is limited data and limited yachting at the moment, so we have to put together a financial feasibility study based on local insights combined with our own expertise." That study is due this month. Then FIDC has to find investors willing to pay for a breakwater in the South Atlantic.
Photo: Falkland Islands Development Corporation (FIDC). Source: Marina World, FIDC, MercoPress.
