Freight on the Clyde: What Clydeport Can Offer

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Bill Burns, Managing Director of Hunterston Container Terminal, spoke about Clydeport’s role in developing Hunterston Container Terminal. He discussed the need for such a development following the growth in containerisation and why Hunterston offers a suitable site. The planning process and potential environmental impacts were also discussed.

Bill Burns began by introducing Peel Holdings, owner of Clydeport. Peel Holdings is a large concern, with assets worth over £2 billion including Peel Ports (Clydeport and Manchester Ship Canal), Peel Airports (Liverpool, Teeside, Doncaster and Sheffield), the Trafford Centre (award winning regional shopping and leisure complex) and substantial land and property assets .

Having given the company’s background, Bill Burns described the three main growth drivers to the development of a large, international container development on the Clyde: economic development, outsourcing and the removal of trade barriers (WTO). In the freight transport sector, 60% of freight which can be containerised is and this is expected to rise to 90% within a decade. In addition, transhipment is expected to grow from 22% to 50%.

The challenges to answering this economic growth in the Clyde lies in a lack of port capacity and associated infrastructure both in terms of port water depth and road and rail connections. There are also challenges from the regulatory and environmental sectors. Bill argued that there is a need to turn these challenges into opportunities.

What do shipping lines want? Shipping lines require access to a hinterland market, sufficient terminal capacity which allows fast cargo turnaround at any state of the tide, high productivity, reliable infrastructure and the capacity to grow the business - all at a low cost.

Bill went on to show how developing a container port at Hunterston could address these needs. The site, just north of Hunterston Power Station, is shown in the aerial photo. The project will require substantial dredging and reclamation before building on the reclaimed land. Connections will be made to the local and main west coast rail networks and roads.

There are of course environmental considerations in projects of such scale and the area is part of Portencross Coastal Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) will be required to assess the landscape and visual impacts, ecological, cultural and archaeological impacts and impacts on waters, soils and tourism. Alternative sites will also have to be assessed in the EIA.

The conclusions from the presentation were that further port development is required in Scotland and the UK, both for coastal and inland terminal capacity and that Hunterston Container Terminal could begin to address this need. However, such developments must be commercially and environmentally sustainable and achieve an optimal balance across all transport modes – road, rail, water and air. Long term planning is also essential. It is predicted by Clydeport that Hunterston will provide a broad range of job opportunities both directly and indirectly. It will also create further opportunities beyond the container port as well as create educational opportunities.

Bill Burns ended by stressing the need for a fully integrated and efficient transport network in order for Scotland to remain competitive and maintain its productivity and economic growth.

For further information, please see the Clydeport website, www.clydeport.co.uk, or telephone 0141 221 8733.