A further 16 acres of land have been added to Port of Immingham’s footprint after ABP completed a deal with DB Cargo 海角视频.
The strategic purchase has allowed the legal boundary to be extended, providing room for future growth at the Humber’s largest port. The site was previously railway sidings supporting DB Cargo 海角视频’s train maintenance and service operations, with the port the starting point for 25 per cent of the 海角视频's rail freight.
Recent years had seen a wind-down of the sidings' use, leading to it becoming surplus to requirements for the Doncaster-headquartered leading rail freight operator.
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Greg Lacey, head of property for ABP on the Humber, said: “There’s huge untapped potential in making the land work effectively for the port.”
Open storage is seen as a major future growth sector in the Humber. “The supply of good quality surfaced land across the 海角视频 is outweighed by demand and this market will continue to show strong rental growth for ABP, whether it's storage for automotive, construction materials, bulks, or containers,” he said.
It follows work at King George Dock in Hull early this year. A new five year lease was entered into for 30 acres of open storage land with Siemens Gamesa, for wind turbine blades manufactured at the city plant. The team is now working on the next phase of 37.5 acres of expansion for further open storage which is targeted to be ready for November 2024.
Mr Lacey joined the Humber property team a year ago, after more than three years as a senior asset manager for Tilstone Partners, the investment manager for Warehouse REIT Plc - a specialist investor in industrial logistics and warehousing, where he was responsible for the management of its three million sq ft portfolio in the North.
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Bringing a wealth of experience in acquisitions, disposals, asset, and property development - having previously held roles at Asda and CEG in Leeds - he is responsible for all property activity across the four Humber ports. It is a portfolio valued at £1 billion, with the rent roll increasing from £43 million to £51 million this year.
Attention is now turning to Humber International Enterprise Park, east of Port of Hull. It is one of the 海角视频’s largest allocated industrial employment sites, and work has been underway to showcase the proposition across global markets. HIEP has outline planning consent for 4,250,000 sq ft of warehousing and logistics uses, and 50,000 sq ft of leisure and roadside uses. Half the site sits in the freeport zone. A major sector focus has been last mile delivery, but first mile and port-centric manufacturing is top of the agenda.
Mr Lacey said: “ABP’s USP is that we can achieve both commercial port revenues through new volume and rent, and when we get this right our ability to make development viable is far stronger than most ordinary developers. What is very exciting is that we are speaking daily about new international requirements, due to the strong interest in the freeport and its associated incentives.
“There is a huge amount to go after, onshoring is now a real thing and I believe manufacturing is the new e-commerce for the 海角视频 industrial and logistics market.”