ENCOURAGING FIRST HALF FOR ABP’S EAST ANGLIAN PORTS

ENCOURAGING FIRST HALF FOR ABP’S EAST ANGLIAN PORTS

Associated British Ports’ (ABP) East Anglian ports have seen some important developments during the first half of 2005. The Ports of Ipswich, King’s Lynn and Lowestoft have continued to develop new business opportunities while maintaining their core trades, ensuring that results for the period are positive.

Bo Lerenius, ABP’s Group Chief Executive, officially opened the Ipswich Ferry Terminal in March 2005. The £6.1 million roll-on/roll-off facility was built on the back of a 20-year agreement with the port’s largest customer, Ferryways NV, who operates the now firmly established service between Ipswich and Ostend. The terminal has enabled the port to accommodate increasing volumes of unit-load traffic destined for Ostend, and other destinations.

Ipswich is also on course to handle in excess of 300,000 cu m of timber this year, in line with last year’s record-breaking volume of forest-product imports. The increase in timber volumes at the port over the past two years complements the recently expanded West Bank Timber Terminal, which includes the Timber Treatment Centre. Offering industrially applied wood-preservative treatment, the centre ensures that the treatment process is environmentally friendly and tailored to take into account timber species, individual-pack configuration and end-use.

The Port of Ipswich continues to handle large volumes of dry-bulk cargoes and has seen steady growth in aggregates and cement imports. The recently extended Coldock Terminal offers 16,600 sq m of transit warehousing. A growing number of dry-bulk customers are seeing the benefits of the fully segregated storage bays offered at the facility, which ensures no cross-contamination of products.

Timber-handling throughput continues to develop at the Port of Lowestoft, with Jeld-Wen (UK) Ltd importing kiln-dried product, for use on its adjacent manufacturing plant, along with pallet wood and other timber products, which are handled at the North Quay Cargo Terminal. Exports of grain from Lowestoft are handled by Plasmor

(Lowestoft) Ltd, and have seen steady progress over the past six months. The operation is supported by a 14,000-tonne capacity silo and storage complex. SLP Engineering Ltd (SLP) – based at Lowestoft – plays a vital role in servicing the oil, gas and renewable-energy industries, and has seen an increase in demand for large topside-deck structures, destined for the North Sea. Four modules have left Lowestoft this year, the most recent being a reception facility for Shell’s Sole Pit Clipper Platform, weighing over 1,700 tonnes. The port’s involvement in the Scroby Sands wind-turbine project saw the construction and shipment of 30 wind turbines in 2004 and it is anticipated that similar works will be undertaken next year in conjunction with SLP Energy, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SLP.

The Port of King’s Lynn’s timber trade continued to boom this year, having recently secured the ‘Most Improved Stevedoring Performance’ award from customers Finnforest UK, after topping their 2004 supplier-productivity index. Timber importers and distributors Finnforest UK reported that King’s Lynn’s average ‘per-hour timber-handling productivity’ rose by an impressive 35 per cent on their previous year’s levels. The Port of King’s Lynn distinguished itself by being the only port within Finnforest UK’s index to improve significantly on their previous year’s performance.

King’s Lynn also welcomed its first shipment of unprocessed logs, which arrived at the port in August 2005. Henrikson Shipping transported the 2,000-tonne cargo from Denmark and the logs were discharged and redelivered by JST Services to their final destination – a sawmill in Brackley, Northamptonshire. Similarly, the past six months have seen the start of a bi-monthly shipment of agribulks from Stettin, Poland, to King’s Lynn. The service, operated by Omex, commenced in July 2005, with monthly volumes in excess of 4,000 tonnes. Grain-handling volumes at the port remain steady, with established port customers Grainfarmers continuing to utilise the state-of-the-art Alexandra Silo Complex for their grain-handling operations, and reporting positive results for the first half of 2005.

Commenting on the region’s performance, Robert Smith, Port Manager for ABP’s East Anglian Ports, said:

“Throughout the first half of 2005, ABP’s Ports of Ipswich, King’s Lynn and Lowestoft have coped well in a challenging East Coast short-sea freight market. Moreover, recent investment has equipped us to meet future business development opportunities which are being actively pursued.”

7th September 2005

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