Stena Line and Associated British Ports (ABP) have entered into an agreement to jointly develop a new freight terminal at the Port of Immingham in the Humber region.

The £100M agreement will see the Swedish ferry company operate the new terminal for the next 50 years. It is a major long-term commitment and boost for the region, where freight on routes to and from the EU has been booming since Brexit.

At the start of the year Stena Line relocated its Rotterdam freight service to the Port of Immingham, the largest port in the UK by tonnage, which is owned by ABP. The move has allowed the company to become the provider of both the terminal and shipping operations, which has resulted in improved benefits and expanded services to its significant freight customers in the region.

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Fishing communities across the UK will be given the opportunity to benefit from better infrastructure, strengthened supply chains, new jobs and an investment in skills thanks to a £75 m boost for the sector announced by UK government Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The investment will strengthen the sector’s ability to land more fish in the UK and take them to market faster. This will be achieved by improving the capacity and efficiency of our harbours and processing facilities while boosting the long-term sustainability of the fishing industry and supporting jobs, increasing opportunities for coastal communities and levelling up across the country.

A £65 million infrastructure scheme will be made available for projects such as modernising ports and harbours alongside increasing capacity and efficiency at processing and aquaculture facilities.

A competition will be run to identify the best projects, prioritising those that reduce carbon emissions, helping increase the sustainability of the sector and contributing towards the UK’s commitment to reach Net Zero by 2050.

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Britain’s reliance on foreign steel for Royal Navy nuclear submarines and warships is “an appalling state of affairs”, peers were told this week.

A UK government minister said specialist metal required to make Trident-armed Dreadnought subs and Type 31 light frigates could not be supplied from the UK.

But industrial leaders and unions have repeatedly said if they were given enough notice and sufficient orders, they would be able to manufacture the products needed.

Former head of the Navy Admiral Lord West, who triggered the debate, said importing metal for naval vessels stripped the UK of “sovereign capability”.

UK Steel director-general Gareth Stace said: “Steel is absolutely fundamental to the UK’s capability to function as a modern industrial economy.Targeted government procurement to support the UK’s steel sector – be it in shipbuilding or infrastructure – not only supports the steel sector and the thousands of jobs it provides, but strengthens national resilience, improves our sovereign capability and encourages investment in UK manufacturing supply chains.”

Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions general secretary Ian Waddell warned: “Both steel and shipbuilding are strategically important industries for the United Kingdom and our naval procurement programme should ensure that British ships are built in British shipyards using British steel. It beggars belief that the Government minister has said that we no longer have the capacity to produce the steel used for submarine hulls when we were able to do so just a few short years ago.”

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Earlier this month we highlighted the export trade opportunities for UK marine businesses in the Basque Country and Northern Spain. In partnership with Santander UK Corporate & Commercial Banco Santander, Basque Trade & Investment / Agencia Vasca de Internacionalización, FORO MARITIMO VASCO ( BASQUE MARITIME FORUM). The webinar was supported by the Department for International Trade (DIT) teams both in the UK and Spain.

We are now looking forward to arranging 1:1 meetings on behalf of UK SME’s with companies and partners during next month’s World Maritime Week in Bilbao, the International meeting about Naval, Fishing, Ports, Oil &Gas and Ocean Renewable Energies.

Five Conferences One Place : SINAVAL, EUROFISHING , FUTUREPORT, OCEAN ENERGY Conference and OIL&GAS Conference

If you are interested in doing business during World Maritime Week we are working in collaboration with our partners Alium Consulting and the BILBAO EXHIBITION CENTRE (BEC)  to make this happen.

Contact us info@nmdg.co.uk

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