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news opinion Hampshire brings East
A very merry Christmas to all our readers – and of course very best wishes for a successful 2015 ...
As we finish one year and start another, it’s worth reflecting on how far the economy has come in the past 12 months.
A record number of people are now in work. The number of workless households has fallen to record lows.
There’s been a 97% increase in the number of people starting apprenticeships in the South East in the past four years.
Pay is rising – not at the same rate as pre-recession, and still at slightly less than the rate of inflation, but the signs are encouraging.
Interest rates are remaining at record lows and probably won’t rise until at least the spring – after the General Election? Even when they do go up, the rise is likely to be very small.
And yet, and yet. There are a number of concerns as we party our way into 2015. Global winds will quite likely impact the pace of the UK recovery next year. Europe has still not grasped the extent of the debt crisis; there are deflationary forces in Asia, in countries from China to Thailand; and Russia is gearing up for an economic cold war against the West.
Should any of that worry us as we watch the New Year fireworks? Maybe a little.
What should worry us more is the fact that some businesses will adopt a “wait and see“ policy in Q1 2015 – waiting to see what the General Election will bring before making important decisions.
That would slow our growth next year and be completely counter- productive ...
David Murray Publisher
www.businessmag.co.uk Africa an on-water first
Two Hampshire companies are set to make history as they work together to bring the east coast of Africa its first ever fully-serviced marina.
Walcon Marine in Fareham has won the coveted contract to design and build the floating marina at English Point Resort in Mombasa, Kenya (pictured), and fellow Fareham-based logistics company, PSP, is helping to make the plans a reality by transporting hundreds of tonnes of materials to the site.
English Point Marina is a contemporary development featuring apartments, a hotel, restaurant, spa and gym, serviced marina, watersports centre, boardwalk and retail outlets. It is based on a four-acre beachfront site, across the creek from the historic Fort Jesus and the skyline of Mombasa Old Town.
Walcon Marine, whose previous projects include Palm Beach Marina Florida, Sydney Boat Show and of course the PSP Southampton International Boat Show, has been tasked with constructing the floating pontoon element of the development, which will provide berths for 88 luxury yachts and motorboats.
The project has kicked into action with Walcon loading pontoon decks, concrete floats, access bridges and other associated equipment into containers and onto flat racks at its yard in Woolston.
The items were then transported to ABP Port of Southampton, where they were loaded onto a
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container vessel bound for Mombasa Sea Port. Over the coming months PSP will deliver more equipment to East Africa to ensure Walcon Marine’s team of fitters have all they need to get the job done.
Frank Dixie, PSP managing director, said: “This is no ordinary logistics project, not least due to the historic nature of what we are transporting. Because many of the materials are too wide to fit into normal shipping containers they have to be loaded onto ’flat racks’ – containers with no sides or roof. This enables us to load them despite the fact they are too big for an ordinary container, but it also presents new challenges. Anything loaded onto a flat rack has to be secured in a particular way so we made sure we used our specialist team, who are trained and certified in ’loop lashing’ to do the work.“
The first of PSP’s shipments was due to reach Mombasa by early December, ready for Walcon’s team to start constructing the marina which is due to be completed in Spring 2015.
Clive Kemp, commercial director at Walcon Marine, said: “It is a huge honour to count this historic development among our ever-growing list of international projects. Having worked closely with PSP on many shipments over the years, we count their team as our right hand for logistics and know that together we will do a great job in bringing Mombasa its first ever fully- serviced marina.“
In the February 2015 issue of The Business Magazine
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THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SOLENT & SOUTH CENTRAL – DECEMBER 14/JANUARY 15
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