ABP’S SOUTH WALES PORTS REPORT SOLID FIRST-HALF RESULTS

ABP’S SOUTH WALES PORTS REPORT SOLID FIRST-HALF RESULTS

During the first six months of 2005, Associated British Ports’ (ABP) South Wales Ports – Cardiff, Barry, Newport, Swansea and Port Talbot – have seen revenue increase by 12 per cent. Growth in coal imports, destined forpower stations across the region, and high steel import and export volumes, particularly at Newport and Cardiff, have contributed to the ports’ strong performance. New investments and business wins have also made a positive impact on ABP South Wales’ first-half results.

A £1.7 million warehouse and distribution facility is currently being built at the Port of Swansea and is on schedule to be completed in December 2005. Following a 15-year agreement with RKL Plywood (UK), ABP has funded the construction of a new 6,700 sq m warehouse and office accommodation, which will house RKL’s UK headquarters. Since 1999, RKL has been steadily cultivating its plywood and timber-board import business at the Port of Swansea, which recently handled thelargest-ever single shipment of forest products to the region.

Swansea Cork Ferries, who operates a seasonal roll-on/roll-off passenger service between their namesake ports, renewed a previous term agreement with ABP in July 2005. The new 20-year agreement will see approximately 380 sailings per year, reflecting growing confidence in the only direct shipping line between south-western Ireland and the UK.

ABP’s Port of Cardiff continues to expand both its timber and steel-handling operations. Scandinavian and Baltic timber imports featured strongly in the first six months of 2005, and in order to accommodate increased volumes of forest products,

ABP recently added a further 30,000 sq m of hardstanding storage space at the port. Celsa (UK) Ltd, who operates a steelworks and rolling mill adjacent to the dock estate, continued to handle substantial volumes of steel imports and exports at the port.

ABP recently invested £1.4 million in extending the Port of Newport’s ‘7’ Shed for long-standing customer W. E. Dowds, a specialist steel-handling company. Completed in June, the extended facility highlights ABP’s commitment to working closely with its customers to grow their business. The 3,000 sq m extension provides extra undercover storage for steel-coil imports. For their part, W. E. Dowds has invested heavily in new stock-control systems, cargo-handling equipment and gantry cranes at the port.

ABP strengthened its relationship with customer Arkady Feeds (UK) Ltd in 2005, with the signing of a three-year commercial agreement to handle agribulks at Newport. ABP invested almost £500,000 in acquiring new bulk-handling equipment to support Arkady’s operation, which will handle in excess of 150,000 tonnes of agribulk over the next three years.

The Port of Barry has seen the development of a scrap-metal terminal at No. 2 Dock. Operated by Dunn Bros (1995) Ltd, the terminal provides a flexible option to import or export related products according to the prevailing market conditions.

Commenting on recent business developments in the region, Clive Thomas, Acting Port Director for ABP’s South Wales Ports, said:

“The first six months of 2005 have seen ABP’s South Wales ports strengthen their position in key trades and develop new business opportunities with a range of customers. Our strategy of maintaining close relationships with our customers, coupled with a robust investment policy and unique geographical spread across the region, gives us reason to look forward to the second half of the year with confidence.”

UK Dredging (UKD), Associated British Ports’ (ABP) dredging arm, has moved from strength to strength in the first half of this year, with its fleet employed in both ABP and third-party dredging works. UKD, based at the Port of Cardiff, is currently managing the dredging for ABP’s Immingham Outer Harbour project. The first phase of the dredging operation was completed in June 2005, with the removal of over two million cu m of alluvial silts. The second phase will see UKD remove an estimated 550,000 cu m of glacial clays by October 2005. UKD’s six vessels, supported by two chartered dredgers, have played a prominent role in the project’s dredging programme.

While UKD remains committed to ABP’s port developments on the Humber, growth in other regions continues strongly, with a number of third-party contracts being awarded to UKD, including a three-year term contract with the Port of Bristol. The contract, signed in early 2005, charged UKD with the maintenance dredging of the port’s dock entrances at Portbury and Avonmouth, and was secured following the completion of trial dredges at the port.

UKD Bluefin spent five weeks in early 2005 on charter to the Danish dredging contractor Rohde Nielsen, conducting maintenance dredging for the Portuguese ports of Setubal, south of Lisbon, and at Leixoes, northern Portugal’s largest port. Not to be outdone by her younger sibling, the first half of the year saw UKD Marlin carrying out maintenance dredging at the Port of Poole, and undertaking remedial works at the Tetney Monobuoy, on the Humber Estuary.

7th September 2005

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