Containers

Hull’s container traffic is primarily handled at Queen Elizabeth Dock by Hull Container Terminal, which handles around 260,000 TEUs per year for operators such as Samskip, ESF Euroservices, The United Baltic Corporation, Bulcon, Finnlines, and OOCL. The terminal provides 300 m of quay – enabling three vessels to be berthed simultaneously – and over 7.5 ha of storage for all types of container, including refrigerated units and hazardous goods. In addition, groupage facilities are available, and full and less-than-full container loads are catered for.

Dry bulks

Aggregates, agribulks, cement, chemicals, coal, cocoa and grain are all handled at the Port of Hull. Benefiting from substantial recent investment, both by ABP and its customers, these dry-bulk trades are supported by a broad range of modern dry bulk-handling facilities.

Humber Sand and Gravel Ltd supplies the local construction industry from the company’s terminal based at Hull’s Alexandra Dock. Harding Cargo Handling Ltd also handles aggregates, as well as other dry-bulk traffic, from its terminals in Alexandra Dock and Albert Dock.

New Holland Bulk Services’ terminal, in King George Dock, handles animal feed and other dry bulks, with its own 28-tonne capacity floating crane and weigh tower. Vessels of up to 30,000 dwt can be handled, and the berth is linked to a 40,000-tonne store by a direct conveyor. Titan Cement (UK) Ltd has a specialised facility for handling quality-assured cement from Greece.

Grains, such as wheat and barley, are stored at a specialist silo facility in King George Dock. The silo, which is operated by Frontier Agriculture Ltd, has a capacity of 60,000 tonnes, and cargoes are exported to a variety of European destinations.

Stema Shipping (UK) Ltd has a terminal in Queen Elizabeth Dock for handling aggregates imported from Norway.

Sims Group UK Ltd operates a scrap-metal exporting facility in Queen Elizabeth Dock.

NW Trading operates a dry bulks terminal in King George Dock, specialising in agribulk and biomass products.

Forest products

Hull, the UK’s largest softwood timber-handling port, greatly increased its capacity for handling forest products with the opening of the Finland Terminal in 2000. Hull is on the main softwood timber trade routes from Northern Europe, the Baltic states and Scandinavia. The Finland Terminal, with more than 70,000 sq m of covered storage, is a hub for Finnish paper producers. The port handles 1.5 million cu m of timber each year, and offers regular liner services carrying timber. Considerable areas of covered and open storage, plus value-added services, such as timber-treatment and sawmills, are also available on the port estate.

Timber traffic is also handled at the specialist terminals operated by Ahlmark Shipping UK Ltd, Global Shipping Services Ltd, Finnforest, Rix Shipping Ltd, Harding Cargo Handling Ltd, North Sea (Lumber) Sales Ltd and Leafe & Hawkes Ltd.

Fresh produce and perishables

Hull’s contribution to the UK fishing and fish-processing industries was enhanced by the recent development of theFishgate fish-auction market which is based at Albert & William Wright Docks; it is a high-tech fish-handling facility providing real-time linkage to other European fish markets. 

Hull Cold Store, a 24,000 cu m high-specification cold-storage facility operated by ABP , is equipped with 8,750 pallet spaces and has blast-freezing capability for freezing products down to –18°C. ABP also operates its own fleet of refrigerated vehicles.

Cocoa – both bagged and bulk – is handled at Hull, which is one of the UK’s principal cocoa-import centres. The port provides dedicated storage facilities for major producers, such as Rowntree, Nestlé and Cadbury.

Andrew Johnston Knudtzon Ltd offers 56,000 cu m of cold storage in Hull with a quayside facility capable of handling over 1,000 pallets per day.

General cargo

With a wide selection of trading routes and versatile cargo-handling facilities, Hull has a reputation for being one of the East Coast’s principal ports for general cargo. Regular liner services operate between Hull and the South Pacific, carrying a range of commodities including forest products, steel, project cargoes and liquid bulks.

Storage facilities for general cargo incorporate 40 transit sheds covering 230,000 sq m and 65 ha of open storage, with groupage services and cargo consolidation available.

Liquid bulks

The BP chemical plant at Saltend is Hull’s largest liquid-bulk complex and is one of the world’s largest producers of acetic acid. The plant contains a gas-fired power station and includes new production lines for vinyl acetate and ethyl acetate.

Liquid-bulk handling at Hull now plays an increasingly important role at the port, which has seen a significant rise in imports of edible oils over recent years. Aarhus Karlshamn, based in King George Dock, imports edible oils for its refinery which produces, among other products, cooking oils, specialist oils and ice-cream fats.

Other major liquid-bulks customers include United Storage Ltd, which operates from two sites at King George Dock, and offers common-user tank storage for petroleum products and chemicals. International Bulk Liquids Ltd operates a storage facility on Alexandra Dock and United Molasses Ltd and Westway Terminals operate tank farms on King George Dock for the storage of imported molasses for the animal-feed industry.

Minerals & Ores

Kingston Terminal at Queen Elizabeth Dock is operated by Hull Bulk Handling Ltd for the handling of coal and other mineral bulks and offers over 17 ha of storage linked to the quayside via a covered conveyor.

Passengers and cruises

Hull provides the only passenger service from the Humber Estuary. Each year, over one million passengers pass through the port on P&O Ferries’ daily sailings to Rotterdam and Zeebrugge. Hull is also an increasingly popular port of call for cruise vessels, with good access to the nearby tourist areas of Yorkshire.

Ro-ro

Ro-ro traffic accounts for the largest proportion of the port’s annual throughput and facilities have been greatly expanded in recent years. There are11 ro-ro berths in the enclosed docks and one on the riverside. The Rotterdam Terminal accommodates Pride of Hull and Pride of Rotterdam – the new super-cruise-ferries operated by P&O Ferries on the Hull-Rotterdam crossing.

Steel and other metals

Hull Steel Terminal, the UK’s first fully-enclosed steel-handling facility provides all-weather working. The ISO 9002-accredited terminal provides a ‘one-stop-shop’ for ship’s agency, cargo-handling, storage and distribution and offers 10,000 sq m of covered and a further area of open storage for non-weather-sensitive steel products.

Hull also handles steel and metal cargoes at a number of other terminals operated by Ahlmark Shipping UK Ltd in King George Dock and Rix Shipping Co Ltd in Alexandra Dock.

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