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Together, we’re stronger says Danbrit boss 28


Peter Aarosin, managing director at logistics service provider Danbrit – which works on both sides of the Humber and in all major locations – heartily welcomes the HumberPort initiative. He told FBJ: “Until now, all our efforts have been focussed on individual ports, but the problem is that, in the rest of the world, people don’t know about Hull or Immingham – but they do know where Rotterdam or Hamburg is.” Now, though, he is “very pleased


that we’ve got the new brand of HumberPort and we can bang the drum for our area. We’ve got very good colleagues – and competitors - in this area, and in fact it’s surprising how well we all function as a body together. And the more business we attract, the more successful we will all be, collectively, and the more wealth we will create and retain.” “The important thing is to attract


business to the Humber. With that achieved, then we can fight it out among ourselves.” Danbrit has logistics facilities in all


the major locations on the Humber including Hull, Grimsby, Goole and Trent Port. Peter Aarosin, together


with a partner, bought out short- sea specialist RMS in 1995, with the German end of that operation being sold to Rhenus in 2007. The Goole office of RMS continues as a separate operation. Goole has great potential as a logistics location, being not only the UK’s furtherest inland seaport, but is also a rail, motorway and canal crossroads – and it is beginning to attract some interest from distribution centre operators. Peter Aarosin believes that ports


on the Humber have suffered from a lack of investment in the past. “The problem we have is that infrastructure is under the control of one provider – 85% of it is ABP” - and this has been a disincentive for investment. The lack of competition has discouraged speculative investment and innovation, Peter Aarosin argues. Able UK would be a very welcome addition to the Humber, he believes and other operators might also be encouraged in. While there are few other locations for greenfield port developments, some existing terminal operations might be sold to other operators, he suggests. There are countless other examples in Europe where different


port operators in a region or estuary have come together and successfully marketed themselves, he says – Hamburg, Duisburg or Antwerp but, perhaps above all, Rotterdam. While outsiders think of the Dutch gateway as a monolith, it actually comprises a bewildering variety of port and terminal operations of all shapes and sizes – and a good chunk of the port isn’t actually in Rotterdam itself. “So it’s not at all dissimilar to the situation here on the Humber,” Peter Aarosin comments. Surprisingly, perhaps, HumberPort isn’t the first such initiative, he points


out. Under the auspices of the old County of Humberside there used to be an Estuary Port Partnership, but that disappeared when Humberside itself was abolished in 1996. “Really, it’s taken until now to get a joint approach again, but we’re very, very keen to succeed.” Also encouraging is the creation of a Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP)


for the whole


of the Humber. This is a substitute for the former Yorkshire Forward Regional Development Agency and, being business-led, could be more accountable than its predecessor, Peter Aarosin hopes.


Teessiders look south


PD Ports may be best known as a Teesside operator but it is doing an increasing amount of work in the Humber region, says business development director, Geoff Lippitt. It runs Hull Container Terminal, which is used by short- sea operators such as MacAndrews and Samskip and it also has bulk activities in Immingham. In addition it runs the Keadby and Howden river wharves.


The port market is changing fast,


says Geoff Lippitt – it’s no longer just a matter of liſting stuff on and off ships. “I think there will be a big market for fulfilment centres on or near ports, similar to the Clipper Logistics facility near Teesport. And we like to think of ourselves as a bit different from the average operator – we like to engage in intelligent debate with customers about why they should use us.”


Issue 4 2012


///HUMBER


Heavy loads through Hull


Hull-headquartered Abnormal Load Services (International) moved two sets of waste heat recovery units through its local port in April. The first, weighing a total of nearly 49 tonnes was loaded onto the chartered MV Merchant, bound for Antwerp.


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