The post you are reporting:
Dover's plans for second ro-ro terminal put back three years
David Osler, Lloyds List.
Dover Harbour Board is set to push back its £400m ($665m) plans for a second ro-ro terminal and 400 berth marina at Britain's top ferry port, initially pencilled in for 2013, by at least three years. Lloyd's list has learned.
The move is said to reflect a reduction in projected demand for such a facility in the light of the current economic climate, with the rapid expansion enjoyed earlier in the decade no longer regarded as likely to continue.
Some well connected sources in the town have suggested that finance might have proved harder to come by than anticipated, thanks to generally tighter credit conditions, although a DHB spokeswoman indicated that this had not been a factor in the decision.
The four berth terminal, when it finally does come into being, is intended to bring about a significant boost to both trade and tourism links between the UK and continental Europe. However, Dover MP Gwyn Prosser yesterday pointed out that the scheme was part and parcel of wider efforts to regenerate the waterfront in the rundown town in east Kent, and expressed his dismay at the prospect of delay.
A spokesman for DHB confirmed "We are not going to have anything open by 2013. That may have been an earlier assumption in the original documents. In terms of construction, we will be under way in 2013. But it is all down to having the right capacity at the right time. We are in a recession at the moment, but we are expecting to come out of it. It will come down to how much growth we have in the future. It all depends on the market"
Traffic growth has reached double digits in some recent years, injecting a sense of urgency into the plan, but last year traffic actually fell. "The earliest time at which Terminal 2, as the project is known, could be operating is 2014." he said.
A range of funding options have been considered to pay for the four berth terminal, including private capital and pure debt finance. The use of a third-party investor such as an infrastructure fund has been mentioned as one possibility.
The spokesman said at this stage, all options remained open and a proportion of the outlay was likely to come from internal funds. "We are very confident we can get the money we need. We are confident we will be returning to growth in a short space of time and we are going to need to put in the capacity." he added.
Separately, chief executive Bob Goldfield has also dropped his strongest hint yet that the trust board could soon be set for privatisation , telling employees that the question of whether its current status is "any longer appropriate" is now being debated.
In the DHB magazine, WatersEdge, Mr Goldfield wrote " The final area of debate is the fundamental consideration of trust port status and whether that status going forward is any longer appropriate to the port and its strategic plans"
He concluded "As the Chinese often have cause to say: 'We live in interesting times'. There has never been a more appropriate saying for the port of Dover at this time in our history."