Consultation on future plans for Southampton Port
ABP Southampton has produced a port master plan for the next 20 years, a strategy document which included, among other things, an envisaged application to build the controversial Dibden Bay container terminal.
The original Dibden Bay planning application was rejected for environmental reasons. ABP director for Port of Southampton, Doug Morrison, told a seminar at the port's new Ocean Terminal for cruise ships that Dibden Bay will be "a reality" one day in order to meet forecast UK box demand beyond 2020.
Southampton's port master plan is now available on the web for public consultation, a stakeholder process that lasts until November. It is expected to draw fire from sections of the community, mainly due to mention of Dibden Bay.
The master plan is, however, a wide-ranging document that includes forecasts for the commercially important but less contentious car and cruise sectors at the hub, which handled 42m tonnes prior to the recession. The voluntary master plan, which ABP Southampton is not legally required to produce, also addresses such issues as road access and rail freight track enhancements.
Mr Morrison told the Port City Futures Southampton Convention last month that a fifth cruise terminal will be needed in by 2020, when the port's current 1m passengers a year is expected to have doubled, based again on very conservative growth assumptions.
The UK government is about to introduce new planning legislation that should fast track the development of infrastructure projects which are considered essential to the national economy. The criteria for such port projects will be set out in the long-awaited National Ports Policy document from the UK government, with publication expected later this year.
Southampton is one of the UK's busiest and most important ports, and a principal driver in the regional economy. It handles in excess of 42 million tonnes of cargo annually - or around seven per cent of the UK's entire seaborne trade - and is the main gateway for Far East imports.
For more information or to take part in the public consultation go to http://abports.co.uk
Send this story to a colleague
