Hostile climate
The challenge by rival Felixstowe may have put a spanner in the works for ABP Southampton's expansion plans
Last month, the Port of Felixstowe secured a judicial review of ABP Southampton’s plans to extend the berth line of the Southampton Container Terminal by 500 metres.
The Marine Management Organisation, the body which issued the required environmental consent to ABP Southampton in February this year, decided not to contest the challenge.
Effectively, therefore, temporarily at least, Felixstowe’s action has stalled ABP’s move to rehabilitate berths 201 and 202 and thereby add a fourth berth at SCT which in terms of the overall berthing line will facilitate the handling of four large vessels at the same time.
ABP is optimistic, however, that following the submission of a revised application it will receive planning consent early next year and that the new quay will be operational by the end of 2013. When in service it will raise annual container throughput capacity from the current level of 2m teu/yr to 2.7m teu/yr.
This move by Felixstowe follows hot on the heels of the completion of its own expansion programme which added, at its berths 8 and 9, over 1m teu/yr of new capacity raising the overall annual capacity at Felixstowe to in excess of 5m teu/yr.
Also on the horizon is the opening of DP World’s new London Gateway terminal at the end of 2013. This will deliver another 1.6m teu of new capacity into the market following the initial development phase.
Overall, in prospect within a relatively short period is the addition of around 3m teu/yr of new capacity at major port centres in the South East of England. Against this background, it is hardly surprising that Hutchison, the owner and operator of the port of Felixstowe, has launched a legal challenge the net effect of which is to slow down the delivery of major new capacity at its current main competitor the port of Southampton.
The introduction of this large new tranche of containerport capacity – resulting from all three projects referenced above – brings with it the prospect of falling stevedoring prices – as lines capitalise on the resulting favourable demand/supply equation.
Relatively speaking, stevedoring rates in the UK have been healthy over the last few years, assisted by a tight capacity situation highlighted by factors such as the flight of transhipment activity to mainland Europe where cheaper capacity is available.
The short-term future, however, presents a different scenario and one that is obviously a cause for concern for terminal operators that have either recently or are on the brink of funnelling major investments into new terminal infrastructure. Not everyone can be a winner in the short-term and possibly all parties will suffer as a result of the trend of discounting to secure or buy market share.
Interestingly, a Moffatt & Nichol traffic forecast undertaken on behalf of London Gateway estimates that, as a base case, the UK O&D container market is set to grow from 8.7m teu in 2013 to 15.6m teu in 2030; a compound annual growth rate of just 3.5%. And at this present time – with uncertainty in the Euro zone prevalent – there is no certainty that even this base case will be achieved over the short-term. It may be a low case scenario.
It is understandable that the port of Felixstowe has stepped up and gone to the next phase of its development with berths that can service new generations of vessel. It is hardly surprising that Southampton wants to match this capability, but perhaps what is surprising is the decision to press ahead with London Gateway. Clearly, achieving a sufficient rate of return on such a project, with very high costs, will be challenging to say the least.
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