Dover Harbour Board and local stevedore George Hammond plc have signed a 10-year agreement which paves the way for greater throughput of palletised fresh produce at the port of Dover’s deep-sea cargo terminal.
The Harbour Board has leased the Dover Cargo Terminal (DCT) to Hammond’s for a further decade and, as outlined in a feature on pp 18-20, both partioes have committed to significant investment in a 50 per cent enlargement of the temperature controlled quayside storage facilities and the upgrade of equipment.
“We are delighted to be working in partnership with Hammond to take the business forward,” said Richard Willcox, director of finance, Port of Dover. “The financial structure of the deal provides a major incentive for Hammond to grow fresh produce imports through the terminal.
“There are currently three weekly liner services calling at the terminal facility but the principal limiting factor has been the amount of temperature controlled storage. Hammond believes it can increase cargo volumes to back this investment.”
Brian Madderson, managing director of George Hammond plc, said throughput increased by 30 per cent at the DCT in 2006. It received 158 ship visits carrying 230,000 pallets of cargo for the UK. A further 35 per cent growth is now projected for 2007.
See feature on freshinfo later this week for more details.
