Memorandum from Peel Ports (FT 17)
1. OVERVIEW—PEEL
PORTS AND
ASSOCIATED COMPANIES
1.1 Peel Ports
Peel Ports is the second largest port operating
group in the UK. Peel Ports operate the Port of Liverpool and
the Manchester Ship Canal, Clydeport, Medway Ports—Sheerness
and Chatham—and the Port of Heysham. These ports handle
more than 63 million tonnes per annum with Liverpool's throughput
of 33.7 million tonnes, combining with that of the Canal of more
than 7 million tonnes, representing the largest concentration
of activity within the division.
1.2 The combined volumes of the Port of
Liverpool and the Manchester Ship Canal are nearly 42 million
tonnes of cargo. They are the most diverse range of cargoes compared
to any other major Estuary other than the Thames in the UK. This
volume of cargo generates 14,000 ship movements per annum.
1.3 Peel Holdings and Peel Ports are developing
what is known as Port Salford; this is a 70 hectare intermodal
terminal located alongside the Manchester Ship Canal and adjoins
the M60 motorway near the Trafford Industrial Zone. This scheme,
for which planning permission has been sought, will include a
Railhead to handle 8 container trains per day as well as having
quayside facilities to handle container barges and ships on the
Canal. The project also includes the development of 500,000 sq
ft of warehouse space. Port Salford is a unique concept in the
UK and will make a major contribution to modal shift. In advance
of Port Salford a container terminal at Irlam has been established
to handle containers primarily shipped through the Port of Liverpool.
2. PEEL PORTS—CONTAINER
SHIPPING DIVISION
2.1 Uniquely, the Peel Ports Group has a
substantial involvement in container short sea and coastal shipping.
Its shipping arm operates container vessels linking Liverpool
and Cardiff with Dublin and Belfast as well as Rotterdam and Antwerp
with Cork, Dublin and Belfast. In January 2007 the present Coastal
Container Line service will be upgraded to connect Southampton,
Liverpool, Glasgow, Dublin and Belfast. In addition we link Rotterdam
and Antwerp to Grangemouth. This network handles 450,000 teus
per annum serving door to door customers, as well as providing
feeder capacity to deep sea container lines.
3. PEEL HOLDINGS—AIRPORTS,
PROPERTY, ENERGY
AND ECONOMIC
REGENERATION
3.1 The other interests of Peel Holdings
include operating airports in Liverpool—John Lennon Airport,
Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield and Durham Tees Valley
Airport. Collectively, the airports handle nearly 7 million passengers
per annum, with JL Airport in Liverpool handling more than five
million as one of the UK's fastest growing airports. Peel also
has major property interests including the Trafford Centre in
Manchester, an energy sector including renewable energy projects
and a waste management division.
3.2 Through its diverse but complementary
range of activities Peel Holdings plays a major role in economic
regeneration especially in the regions. The net asset value of
Peel Holdings is more than £5.6 billion.
4. SUBMISSION
FROM PEEL
PORTS
5. SUSTAINABLE
DISTRIBUTION FUND
5.1 For an organisation like ourselves we
find the process which governs the application and release of
Funds from the SDF bureaucratic and time consuming. We believe
the process itself is a disincentive to encourage modal shift.
5.2 Our view is that if a project clearly
needs grant assistance, but is still in the early days of formation,
then consideration could be given to applying for SDF finance.
However, if the project is time constrained in terms of decision
making then an application for grant aid would be discounted and
it is in these situations that the opportunity for modal shift
is potentially lost. In our response to the Port Policy Review
we proposed that the distribution of freight facility grants etc.
should be delegated to the regions who can more clearly see the
benefit and impact of modal shift and should be given greater
flexibility and accountability in the handling of these funds.
5.3 We would hope that our Port Salford
Scheme is the type of project for which SDF funding would be available.
6. PROMOTING
MODAL SHIFT
6.1 Again this goes back to the Government's
Review of Port Policy. If regional ports were recognised by the
Government as being instruments of modal shift then there would
be far greater success in the transfer of cargo from road to water.
The Port of Liverpool's immediate hinterland includes a population
of nearly 6 million people, ie an area within 50 miles radius
of Port of Liverpool. This region generates approximately 15%
of UK container trade yet the Port today is handling an estimated
6% of UK container business. Therefore, there is tremendous opportunity
to win back what should be Liverpool's business from its competitors
in the South East of England especially following the unification
of Port of Liverpool and the Manchester Ship Canal through the
ownership by Peel Ports.
6.2 If we look at container trades over
the last 17 years, there has been substantial growth in container
volumes to ports in South East England. The Government has, in
its own way, encouraged this expansion by the indirect subsidies
it has given to southern ports through improvements in road and
rail infrastructure connecting these ports into the national rail
and motorway networks—This has created an "M25 effect"
and led to a situation where the majority of container traffic
generated by regions outside of the South East triangle is handled
through South Coast ports.
6.3 By recognising the value and potential
benefit of regional ports to offer modal shift opportunities to
their immediate hinterlands, the imbalance of container trade
in favour of South Coast ports would not be happening to the extent
that applies today.
6.4 An example of how regional ports can
play a role in modal shift is in the growth of transhipment. In
the submission to the Government on its Port Policy Review it
was indicated that the growth of transhipment of container trade
into regional ports from the continent was to the disadvantage
of the UK Port industry. It might be to the disadvantage of ports
in South East of England, but it is not a disadvantage to industry
in the Midlands and North of England who would take advantage
of such shipping services to achieve a reduction in total door
to door costs. Here in Liverpool, we handle 150,000 teus of cargo
transhipped from Continental ports. If the two Shipping Lines
operating feeder services into Liverpool had not taken the initiative
to use the Port of Liverpool, then these 150,000 teus per annum
would have been shipped through Felixstowe or Southampton to locations
generally within a 50 miles radius of the Port of Liverpool. Therefore
it can clearly be seen that the initiative of these two companies
made a major contribution to modal shift, a reduction in carbon
emissions as well as saving companies involved in international
trade in the North West an estimated £200 per container move
or £20m per annum.
6.5 Transhipping through regional ports
is a win win situation. Today we have been improving on that situation
as some of these containers which have been transhipped from continent
ports into our own container terminal in Liverpool are being put
in a barge to go along the Manchester Ship Canal in order to supply
companies in the Manchester area. This is providing nearly an
"all water" solution from the place of export to the
place of consumption! This dedicated 160 teus capacity barge operation
will be officially launched on the 18th October supported by the
UK's largest retailer and the world's second largest container
company and is known as the Liverpool to Manchester shuttle.
6.6 Finally another example of recognising
the value of regional ports would be the case of the Port of Heysham.
At Heysham there is continuing growth in Irish Sea RO/RO freight
services. This has increased trade throughput encouraging Peel
Ports to consider further investment in the Port.
6.7 However, this investment could be jeopardised
unless road access from the Port to the M6 is improved. We strongly
recommend that the M6 Heysham link scheme is given the go ahead.
This scheme also promotes modal shift as increasingly shippers
and hauliers want to use Heysham and the Port of Liverpool to
serve the Irish market rather than use the longer truck driving
ports at Holyhead or via the west coast Scottish ports.
7. PRIORITIES
FOR TIF
7.1 We simply recommend that schemes promoted
under the TIF initiative should be prioritised according to their
impact on the regions out of London and establish those which
could offer connectivity to road, rail and water infrastructure
to encourage modal shift.
7.2 We are pleased that the Olive Mount
Chord Project is a priority TIF scheme as it will significantly
increase rail capacity into the Port of Liverpool which currently
handles, on average, 15 freight trains a day moving four million
tonnes of cargo by rail. This scheme will also significantly benefit
passenger train capacity into Lime Street Station.
7.3 Finally, we would hope that the rail
connection required for Port Salford could also be included in
further TIF schemes or similar funding arrangements.
8. EUROPEAN COMPETITION
8.1 Ports in Europe enjoy substantial public
sector financial assistance—so the hugely successful ports
on the Continent such as Rotterdam, Antwerp and Hamburg all enjoy
public sector financial intervention on the basis of how important
their infrastructure is to their regional and national economies.
The UK Government's policy towards English ports is to obstruct
public sector finance in assisting the development of infrastructure.
However, recently the port facilities at Great Yarmouth have benefited
from substantial EU assistance. This, we believe, has set a precedent
and we would welcome confirmation from the Government that regional
ports such as Liverpool which play a major role in economic regeneration
in areas of high unemployment should benefit from financial assistance
to bring forward schemes that would play their role in creating
employment and offering opportunities for modal shift from road
to water. What has been frustrating for us in Liverpool is that
the EU has recognised Merseyside as an area of deprivation by
granting it Objective 1 status yet one of the lead players in
regeneration—the Port of Liverpool has not benefited from
this funding—even though the Maritime sector of Merseyside
is the largest outside of London and has a skill base and a range
of activities to help in driving the Merseyside economy.
October 2007
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