EUROPE

Southampton committed to increasing UK box capacity

20 years ago

The Port of Southampton has thrown its bid to increase UK container handling capacity into the ring, pledging to raise current volumes by at least 3.7m teu.

The announcement goes some way to plug the gap left by the UK government’s rejection of Associated British Ports’ (ABP) Dibden Terminal application in 2004. To increase capacity, Southampton plans to develop and re-use existing dock infrastructure and improve containerhandling efficiency.

Group chief executive Bo Lerenius, CBE, said: “Having learnt much from our recent successful developments on the Humber, and from the protracted Dibden Terminal-application process, we believe our current strategy for Southampton represents one of the most sustainable container-expansion plans currently being considered in the UK.”