Tidal powered container terminal

The 17.7km barrage named Centre Port UK, will stretch over The Wash between between Lincolnshire and Norfolk and be powered by tidal energy from The Wash’s 780km2 tidal area, enough to power circa 600,000 homes in the region.

“Centre Port provides multiple business opportunities and a lower/zero carbon operation across the import/export chain, whilst also being 50% nearer the East and West Midlands it serves,” said James Sutcliffe, chief executive, Centre Port Holdings.

“Our mission is to retain the Wash boundaries, its wildlife and ecology and to minimise climate change impacts that could devastate these sensitive areas.”

Tidal power

The Centre Port UK infrastructure will also provide a flood defence for the whole of The Wash area protecting more than one million people, said its developer Port EVo.

The container terminal itself will be be state-of-the-art and able to service 1.5 million containers from 23,000 ships after the first phase.

This will expand to 2.6 million containers in phase 2 and then 4 million containers in phase 2a. It will have quad lift cranes able to pick up four 6m containers or two 12m containers on each lift, meaning ships will spend less time in port.

Port Evo said the offshore location will simultaneously provide a high level of security while ensuring there is no land-side noise or light pollution.

The proposed dual carriageway on top of the barrage will cut journey time between the two counties from 2.5 hours to 20 minutes.

Four rail terminals are also being proposed which the developer intends to connect to the East Coast Main Line.

The project has already received a six figure seed funding from energy specialist Centrica, with which it also has a power agreement. The project is now looking to raise GB£8 million for a two-year feasibility study.