Humber Freeport has launched with a mission to drive hundreds of millions of pounds of investment and deliver 7,000 new jobs.
Now open for business, it is described as providing an internationally recognised environment for trade, stimulating economic growth, development and skills in established and emerging industries. Huge opportunities to build on the region’s fast-growing renewable energy industries and the decarbonisation agenda have been highlighted, as well as the potential for investment in the chemicals, logistics, advanced manufacturing and technology sectors.
Simon Bird, ABP regional director who has led the bid and will now chair the Humber Freeport Company, hosted the government’s head of freeports in the Department of Business and Trade, Michael Green, as the status was confirmed.
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Mr Bird said: “The Humber Freeport has an outstanding and potentially unique opportunity to be not merely a source for economic growth, but the primary vehicle for the delivery of the Government’s levelling up agenda in the Humber.
“Humber Freeport will seek to secure hundreds of millions of pounds of private sector investment and the final business case conservatively estimates that such investment will create at least 7,000 new, mostly skilled, jobs. This investment will have a transformative effect in lifting the prospects of the region.”
Mr Bird outlined the benefits freeport status brings to companies investing in the tax and customs sites within the Humber Freeport footprint on both banks of the Humber Estuary.
It features three defined tax sites – Hull East; Able Marine Energy Park / Immingham and Goole – each of which offers incentives for businesses operating within the zones.
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Benefits include land tax relief, business rate relief, enhanced capital allowances and National Insurance contribution relief for employers. In addition, a new customs zone which has been created at Grimsby will help unlock growth in the car handling and storage sector, supporting the growth of the electric car industry.
He said investors also benefit from “assumed permitted development rights to speed up the planning process” and that “when added to being adjacent to high-quality port operations, the offer becomes even more appealing”.
With some benefits only lasting until 2026, Mr Bird said he was "looking for government to be mature and grown up" about an extension to the time it has taken to get set up. Hopes for 2030 and even 2036 were expressed, though concerns that could lead to landbanking were aired.
The freeport officially launched at a VIP event at ABP’s Grade II listed Pump House on Alexandra Dock, neighbouring Siemens Gamesa’s expanding wind turbine blade manufacturing facility.
Leading figures from the public and private sectors, marked the establishment, with all four local authorities represented, with leaders sitting on the board alongside private businesses and other organisations.
Mr Green said: “Freeports represent a generational shift. Inward investment is hugely important for job creation and regeneration and we are looking to build on the 海角视频’s centres of excellence with targeted Government support.
“Humber Freeport will play a key role in decarbonising industry in what is the largest industrial cluster in the 海角视频. It will ensure the region makes the most of the unique assets it holds. 17 per cent of 海角视频 trade arrives on the Humber Estuary, and being within four hours of most areas of the 海角视频, the size and scale of opportunity here in the Humber should not be underestimated.”
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Humber Freeport will build on significant ongoing investment in the region, including Pensana’s £150 million rare earth metals processing plant, now under construction, and plans by Meld Energy to invest £180 million in a green hydrogen production facility, both at Saltend Chemicals Park, east of Hull, which sits within the freeport footprint.
Across from there Yorkshire Energy Park is emerging. Jo Barnes is the managing director of Sewell Estates, a key partner in what is set to be the 海角视频’s first freeport-based energy and technology business park.
“This is a huge step forward for us, for all of us,” she said. “Securing freeport status is a huge opportunity for the Humber. It will significantly raise the profile of the area to potential end users and investors on the global stage.
“We’ve already got early evidence of this at Yorkshire Energy Park, with our site moving forward confidently and early site works planned for later this year in anticipation of construction commencing next year.
“The benefits are not just financial either. It’s been great to see freeport partners working together for mutual benefit, from commercial partnerships to directing end user interest or working with statutory agencies. We can tell a more coherent story about the area’s potential and the freeport can act as a catalyst for solid and sustainable growth.”
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One of the staunchest supporters of the freeport movement has welcomed the status finally sailing into his constituency.
Martin Vickers, who represents Cleethorpes and Immingham - the largest of the Humber ports - set up the all-party parliamentary group on freeports after the opportunity was first mooted by then Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Rishi Sunak.
Now Prime Minister, he had initially shared the vision for a post-Brexit internationally-attractive quayside status in 2019, paving the way for the Humber when he was Chancellor in early 2021.
“It seems a very long time since I persuaded ministers to pursue this policy after it had been floated,” Mr Vickers said, having topped the list of those thanked for their support from Simon Bird as it was officially launched.
“There was tremendous support from my back bench colleagues, and I remember clearly when government adopted the policy, which was a great step forward.
I have been constantly pushing ministers, having had regular meetings with Simon Bird and others, so it is great to have finally crossed the line. It is a great initiative for jobs and attracting inward investment in the Humber region and I am confident we will make the best of that.”
Mr Bird described the potential offered as “massively exciting” ahead of stepping on stage. He said: “When we thought about the Humber offering, we were thinking of three months' work, but here we are nearly three years later, but we have got it. We’re finally opening Humber Freeport as a company, it now has legal status and we’ve had our first board meeting.
“The full business case, if we deliver, is 7,000 highly skilled jobs. The investment, the tax advantages, the opportunity to be across the Humber and the unique selling points we have, it is a compelling proposition.”
With a fair wind and strong start, Mr Bird believes it “would not be a stretch” to see the Humber Freeport Company, with the four local authorities represented, playing a role in delivering on the levelling up agenda too, with government and business recognising the Humber as a single region. “We may have a greater role to play,” he said.