Port of Felixstowe expansion ceremony
The Port of Felixstowe in the United Kingdom on Monday held a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the formal start of work on its Felixstowe South Reconfiguration project.
Costain was appointed in May as contractors for the project, which involves converting the area previously used by P&O North Sea Ferries into a new deep-sea container terminal with an annual capacity of 1.5 million TEUs. The first phase of the redevelopment is scheduled to open in April 2010, with the second phase expected to be operational by 2014. Work to date has concentrated on the demolition of a number of old buildings and warehouses.
'The expansion of the Port of Felixstowe is of great strategic importance in the European market, and Hutchison Port Holdings fully supports this development, which is critical to secure early deep water capacity for the U.K. market,' said John Meredith, group managing director of Hong Kong’s Hutchison Port Holdings, owners of the port through Hutchison Ports UK Ltd.
| John Meredith, group managing director of Hutchison Port Holdings (right), accompanied by Clemence Cheng, managing director of HPH Central Europe, initiates work to reclaim the Port of Felixstowe’s Dock Basin to construct the new Felixstowe South container terminal. |
Chris Lewis, chief executive officer of Hutchison Ports UK, added: 'This is a significant day for the Port of Felixstowe and marks the beginning of a new era in our development. Whilst we are already able to accommodate the largest vessels on the market, the Felixstowe South project will enable us to handle more vessels simultaneously, resulting in even better facilities for our customers and securing our position as the U.K.'s No. 1 port.'