ABP has secured almost £1.5 million of emergency funding to provide extra holding space for lorries should delays hit the Humber ports in a no-deal Brexit.
It has tapped into a £10 million government pot for Port Infrastructure Resilience and Connectivity, part of a £30 million kitty that includes additional support for local resilience forums and longer term projects.
A total of £1.42 million was secured to surface additional land, with £760,000 to be spent on the Eastern Rail Area by King George Dock at Hull and £660,000 on the former Hargreaves facility close to the eastern entrance to Immingham.
Humber ports director Simon Bird revealed the cash injection at a special event organised by the largest third party operator at Immingham, DFDS, where the scale of worst case scenario planning was revealed.
Motorways stretches several miles out from Hull and Immingham could be closed, with diversions put in place, should ferry crossings be delayed. HGVs would be held until sailings neared, ensuring the port estate was clear for operational movements.
Mr Bird said: “The government has said it wants to get a deal, and that’s great, but in the absence of a deal we don’t have any clarity and need to plan for the worst. What we hear is cargo coming into the Ƶ is not going to have any more burdens in terms of checking, and in most cases customs duty and clearance will be done away from the port. That’s great news that cargo can be moved away.
“It is the other way that concerns us, the linkage to Dutch and Belgian ports, and what the administration they bring in to the port will do to cargo back here.
“Until the politicians conclude what they are going to conclude we don’t know and that’s what this trade resilience is all about.
“We need clarity. We are all logistics professionals and experts, and once we understand what the law is we will accommodate the law in our operations. With the lack of clarity we can only plan for the worst.”
The cash will be used to surface and prepare the holding areas, as roads are kept clear to allow vessels to be loaded and discharged efficiently and was “the fastest approval I have ever had from government giving us money,” Mr Bird said.
Port and ferry operators will liaise with the multi-agency regional group if no-deal is the situation at the end of next month and delays occur. A first phase of ‘Operation Wellington’ would see any issues communicated, with drivers urged to stay at point of origin or truck stops.
A second stage would see car parks taken over at Walton Street in Hull, Humber Bridge at Hessle and Glanford Park, Scunthorpe to accommodate delayed trucks ahead of the third phase where first single lanes then entire carriageways would be taken up on the M180 and M62, It is seen as highly unlikely such plans will be needed, according to Department for Transport analysis, based on driver readiness for potential new customs measures.
But with vehicles handled every 40 seconds, any slippage in time can soon escalate.
Mr Bird said ABP will have a dedicated website with rolling information and 24-hour support for port users should it come to it.
“It all sounds really very good,” he said of the plans. “My fear is that when it clogs up, at whatever time of the day, plans go out of the window and we have to be fleet of foot and manage it. Unless you are a card-carrying police officer you can’t move traffic on the outside of the port estates. If we get one glitch it will back up pretty quickly.”
Highlighting the importance of the work around lorry parks and motorways in Operation Wellington, Mr Bird told how cargoes included fuel and energy supplies coming in to keep the country’s lights on and vehicles and machinery moving.
He said: “We have 120 pilots on the Humber moving vessels in and out. If we can’t get these guys to the launch boats or cannot get them back from Goole and Grimsby, these vessels won’t move. The larger vessels bring oil in to the refineries, if we cannot get pilots back because roads are blocked, those vessels won’t dock.
“Having the port jammed with trucks is something we’re not going to allow, equally having trucks going out of the east and west gate interfering with traffic, and the two refineries, well the police won’t let that happen either. It is really important we have some ability to manage this.”
Mr Bird told how his senior team were in fortnightly meetings with Whitehall officials, and had been for three years.
Further information events will be hosted by ABP in Hull and Immingham on October 4.
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