It\u2019s not often in this box mad world you arrive for a port visit to be greeted with the opening line: \u201cOne thing I will say with certainty is that we won\u2019t plan our future around handling containers\u201d. But Portland Harbour Authority\u2019s commercial manager Ian McQuade has more adventurous, beyond-the-box plans for his port.<\/p>\n
\u201cPortland is not your typical 3Cs port with cruise, containers and cars. We\u2019re only small but we are trying to have a multi-business strategy. We\u2019re not there yet, but we are working on it. You have to discuss broadly as you never know what opportunity will come to fruition.\u201d<\/p>\n
And broad it certainly is. Heavy-lift, geological ships, bunker supply, and liquid cargoes all have a home in Portland.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a mixed bag,\u201d confirms Mr McQuade, \u201cand we want a slightly wider mix going forward to spread the risk further.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cruise is one potential target for the short term, but it\u2019s what\u2019s in the energy pipeline that could really lift this southern UK port.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a number of opportunities for the future, particularly in the energy markets,\u201d Mr McQuade tells Port Strategy.<\/i> \u201cOne opportunity is through Portland Gas, a company dedicated to developing and operating gas storage facilities and gas infrastructure in Portland old Naval Docks area. We\u2019re waiting to see how that pans out.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is also approval for a biomass power station at Balaclava Bay, however construction is being held up by government decisions on renewable obligation certificates.\u201d<\/p>\n
The latter project is being developed as a Special Project Vehicle by W4B Renewable Energy Ltd. The site is close to the dockside and oil will be delivered, via a pipeline, to storage tanks alongside the power plant. The green electricity generated will be connected, via a nearby substation, to the national grid. When operational, the plant could deliver over 20% of Dorset\u2019s agreed contribution to the UK\u2019s national target to obtain 15.4% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2015.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, last year\u2019s announcement of Round 3 of the UK’s offshore wind farm development plans was the cause of much excitement in UK ports. Portland was not immune, but its interest was for less obvious reasons. \u201cWe\u2019re in a slightly different position on the South coast and from our point of view, our interest is twofold,\u201d says Mr McQuade. \u201cFirstly, one array is on our doorstep: Eneco New Energy\u2019s West of Isle of Wight zone is 20 miles from here. Secondly, during the construction and assembly phase, our deep water can support installation vessels and we can provide a base for operation and maintenance support for the long term.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe local MP is on board and we have support from the borough council. It\u2019s potentially a huge benefit for the local economy. Eneco knows who we are, what we do and what we can do to help them, but we need to make sure that the top level of the supply chain knows as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course, it\u2019s not just wind energy that offers potential for UK ports; tidal and wave energy could also provide a revenue stream.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s massive potential at Portland Bill and around the Channel Islands. We\u2019re thinking about offshore energy in the broadest sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
But what about the threat of losing business to continental Europe as UK ports get tied up in the red tape planning tangle? \u201cIt\u2019s a major risk,\u201d confirms Mr McQuade. \u201cHardly any of the Round 1 and 2 of the UK\u2019s offshore wind farm development plans came through UK ports.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re happy to compete in an open market, but we\u2019d like more support (tacit or otherwise) as European ports get.\u201d Here, Mr McQuade draws on the example of Bremerhaven\u2019s massive development, which was funded by the regional government.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe other big issue we have is the whole process and planning. None of the Round 3 companies expect to come on stream until 2015, despite being awarded the contracts in 2010. When Germany announced its wind farm development plans, the process was immediate.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we had that level of support we could build the whole Harbour Revision Order and go to market with the offering.\u201d Portland has a Harbour Revision Order granted to develop 130,000 m sq of space, but is looking for a partner to maximise the potential of that development.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Multi-business strategies spread the risk at the UK\u2019s Portland harbour. Carly Fields reports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[],"sponsor":[],"class_list":["post-8331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-container-cargo-handling"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8331\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8331"},{"taxonomy":"sponsor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sponsor?post=8331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}