Sheerness turbine deal could overhaul port

The Port of Sheerness has signed an option agreement with Vestas which would see 70 hectares of port land handed over for a wind turbine manufacturing and installation facility.


The development, expected to create 2,000 jobs, would swallow up the port’s fresh produce terminal and cold store, a large chunk of land currently used for import cars, and other operational areas. However, Medway Ports managing director Paul Kavanagh said this was not a case of replacement but one of expansion, and the port, owned by Peel Ports, was now looking to expand into additional land it already owns, as well as push ahead with reclamation plans.


“We see this as additional business; our aim is to retain our existing portfolio and we are in dialogue with our customers,” he said. “We want a diverse portfolio and don’t want to be tied up with one customer, so the policy is let’s get more land and get more business.”


However, any new or relocated fresh produce facility would likely be on a much smaller scale – fruit imports through Sheerness, which once peaked at more than 900,000 tonnes a year, are now below 400,000 tonnes.


In its own announcement, Vestas said the agreement was subject to a satisfactory order intake on the V164-7.0 MW, its first ever purpose-built offshore turbine, which it described as being of ‘epic proportions’. The agreement has been signed in order to prepare for the planned 2015 serial production of the new turbine, said the company.


Mr Kavanagh said a harbour revision order would not be required for the development but a planning application was likely to be submitted to Swale Borough Council towards the end of this year.
(Source:http://www.portstrategy.com)