1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202 
Port solves congestion hitch
Page 14
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Southampton Container Terminal says it has solved its capacity issues, but this has come on the back of falling volumes. David Harris reports.
SOUTHAMPTON Container Terminal has increased its capacity in the past year from just over 1.5 million containers to nearly two million annually, it said this week.
The terminal has struggled with congestion in recent years, but development manager Derek Smith says the problems have been largely solved.
In a trading statement last week, the owner of the terminal, Associated British Ports (ABP). said "volumes have reduced" at Southampton, partly because of retailers using up stock already imported before they bring in any more.
But Smith says volumes are also down because two services have switched from Southampton to other ports, however when these losses are stripped out, underlying business is rising by 5% year on year. Smith admits that there was less freight for hauliers to carry out of Southampton in February and March, but claims that business is now picking up.
Some hauliers remain sceptical that Southampton has solved its congestion problems. Mike Lewry at Totton-based Elite Transport says: "Things haven't been too bad lately, hut this is always a quiet time of year. The real test will be how they cope from September.
Across all its ports, ABP says profits grew by 3% in the six months ending on 30 June, while the group's two major projects at the port of Immingham are on schedule to start operating next year.