Felixstowe faces ever stronger Southampton, London Gateway rivals
THE future of Hong Kong-owned Felixstowe faces an ever growing threat with the opening of DP World's London Gateway next year at the old Tilbury Docks, and the recent upgrade of Port of Southampton's rail link to the north.
Some 36 per cent of Southampton's gateway's hinterland traffic now moves by rail compared to under 30 per cent before, which is the same still achieved by rival Felixstowe, reports London's Containerisation International.
Also, a British logistics company is advising clients to switch their containers from Felixstowe to London Gateway when the box terminal opens in 2013.
Finishing Line which moves 10,000 TEU a year, including the distribution of 70 million magazines, says it could cut 500,000 truck miles by switching to London Gateway on the lower Thames.
Company chairman Andy Mead said 70 per cent of his volume goes through Felixstowe. "We are telling our customers, rather than taking your containers into Felixstowe, send them into London Gateway. Today, you just can't get the world's largest ships this close to the key UK markets. Next year, that will all change."
The location of both south country terminals on or near the English Channel are easy reach of Britain's richest pool of consumers, the famed stockbroker belt south of the Thames while Felixstowe lies 70 miles north east of London on the North Sea.
Add to that classic problem of England's transport network which draws roads and railways to and from London from all directions like spokes on a wheel. Cross country travel is difficult, marked with secondary roads and tottery trolley rail service. Thus 100 miles can be travelled to and from London as easily as it is to go 50 miles cross country to get on the right spoke.
With Southampton's rail upgrade last year, cargo shoots up easily to the Midlands, the North of England and Scotland, thus permitting high cube containers to be carried on flat cars, no longer blocked by tunnels and bridges after the massive infrastructure upgrade.
Said DP World Southampton managing director Chris Lewis: "Southampton now leads the UK's major container ports in terms of rail modal share for import and export containers. We are also fortunate in that DP World Southampton has additional rail capacity that can be added to meet growing customer demand without further infrastructure upgrades."
DATE:2012.7.6
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