ABP brushes off Brexit fears with £50m Humber investment

ABP, the owner of Britain’s busiest port complex, is to spend £50m to more than double the capacity of its two Humber container terminals in response to “continued growth in demand”.

The UK’s largest port operator has committed nearly £30m to upgrading Hull Container Terminal including the purchase of four new Liebherr ship-to-shore cranes, two of which were delivered in 2016 with two more scheduled for delivery in 2018.

Immingham Container Terminal, which also took delivery of a new Liebherr crane in 2016, will be further extended with major investment in new equipment and technology. Across the two ports, capacity will be more than doubled to allow them to handle around 550,000 units.

ABP Humber’s investment case is based on figures showing that across the Humber container terminals there has been a 41% growth in volumes since 2013. ABP says the business plan the company is working to anticipates “significant continued growth” in this area and discussions with current and potential customers have given it “confidence that this trend looks set to continue in a post-Brexit economy”.

This investment in the Humber comes on the back of the recent investment by ABP in Southampton of a further £50m on a vehicle handling terminal which will predominantly be handling UK manufactured vehicles for export around the world. Taken together, this means that ABP has invested around £100m since the EU referendum result was announced.

“We have seen significant growth at our Humber container terminals in recent years and all the indications are that this will continue despite Brexit,” says ABP Humber director Simon Bird.

“We anticipate growth in container shipping in the coming years and ABP in the Humber are keen to position ourselves to take advantage of that growth. This is a huge vote of confidence in the economy of the North of England at this crucial time.”