NEW £35 MILLION TERMINAL OPENS ON CENTENARY OF IMMINGHAM DOCK
Sir Digby Jones, the Director-General of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) for the past six-and-half years until his retirement from the employers organisation 12 days ago, has today (Wednesday, 12 July 2006) officially opened DFDS Nordic Terminal Riverside at Immingham Outer Harbour, the new £35 million development at Associated British Ports’ (ABP) Port of Immingham. Today’s event also marks the 100th anniversary of the start of the construction of Immingham Dock.
Sir Digby joined hosts Bo Lerenius, Group Chief Executive of ABP, and Jens Nielsen, Managing Director of DFDS Tor Line, in the unveiling of a plaque as part of a ceremony to commemorate the opening of the new terminal. Guests attending the event included the Danish Ambassador to the Court of St James’s, His Excellency Tom Risdahl Jensen, customers of DFDS and ABP, representatives of environmental bodies and non-governmental organisations and local civic dignitaries.
Plans for the £35 million terminal, in which ABP has invested £27.5 million, followed the signing of a 25-year agreement in 2004 between ABP and Danish ro-ro ferry operator DFDS Tor Line. DFDS Nordic Terminal Riverside covers an area of 50 acres and can handle three vessels berthed simultaneously on the River Humber, outside Immingham Lock. The new berths can accommodate DFDS’s newer and larger generation of vessels, and this new development extends DFDS’s existing terminal in Immingham to a total of 170 acres and seven ro-ro berths.
Since starting its operations at ABP Immingham in 1995, DFDS Tor Line has seen its annual throughput triple. The opening of Nordic Terminal Riverside will enable DFDS to facilitate further growth in traffic. The terminal now receives two services operating between Immingham, Esberg, in Denmark, and Gothenburg, and comprises 14 weekly shipments of cars, paper and general cargo.
In July 2004, the Government granted permission to ABP for the construction of the new development. As part of the planning process, ABP worked closely with a number of environmental organisations, including English Nature, Environment Agency (EA), the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the Lincolnshire and Yorkshire Wildlife Trusts, to reach a pioneering agreement, which commits ABP to undertake an agreed set of environmental actions to replace the habitat lost to the new development.
This agreement has resulted in ABP creating 140 acres of mudflats and saltmarsh, and 15 acres of grassland at sites at Welwick and Chowderness on the Humber Estuary. The new sites not only provide new habitats for the Humber’s migratory wildfowl, but also make a significant contribution to the EA’s long-term plans for flood defence on the estuary, which are being implemented to combat the growing threat of rising sea levels.
Bo Lerenius, Group Chief Executive of ABP, said that the opening of the new terminal was an apt way to mark the centenary celebrations of the Port of Immingham:
“It is 100 years ago today since work started on the construction of Immingham Dock. In that time, nearly 1.5 billion tonnes of cargo have passed across its many quays and terminals. Last year, Grimsby & Immingham handled 55 million tonnes, a record throughput for the country’s number-one port complex. It is fitting that we find ourselves today opening this new terminal for DFDS. ABP is committed to ensuring the present and future success of the port, and it is by investing in developments such as this that we will continue to ensure that Immingham remains the country’s pre-eminent port.”
Mr Lerenius added:
“The pioneering agreement we reached with the EA, English Nature and others, is also a sure sign of the progress ABP is making in the sustainable development of its ports. We have a great responsibility to the environments in which we operate, and the two sites we have created at Welwick and Chowderness more than compensate for the habitat lost to the new terminal.”
Jens Nielsen, Managing Director of DFDS Tor Line, commented:
“DFDS has seen considerable growth since the ro-ro concept was introduced in Grimsby. In 1992, we handled some 559,000 lane metres* of traffic in Grimsby. In 1995, the year we started our operations at Immingham, a total of 1.5 million lane metres was handled. In 2006, we estimate that we will handle a volume of some five million lane metres. We are committed to growing our operations at the new riverside terminal, as well as those at the dockside terminal, which will benefit ABP as well as DFDS. No doubt, the growth will be accelerated by the opening of the Nordic Terminal Riverside, making Immingham the biggest terminal for DFDS in Europe.”
* Lane metres is the standard unit of measurement of ro-ro traffic.
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