Port costs strangling industry, says boss

Peter Aarosin, chief executive of RMS in Goole, said healthy competition within the Humber ports network, which includes Hull, Goole, Immingham and Grimsby, has been eroded over the years by the dominance of landlord Associated British Ports (ABP), resulting in high shipping charges and little investment.

Speaking at the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport's shipping lecture in London, Mr Aarosin said: "UK industry is being strangled by un-realistically high UK port infrastructure costs.

"The same single operator also owns the competent harbour authority and the pilotage service. There is no healthy competition at work here in the way that there is in other mainland European ports and it has resulted in some of the highest charges in the world, spectacularly little speculative investment and ports facilities which lag behind those of European operators."

Mr Aarosin said that the cost of importing 18,000 tonnes of cold rolled steel cargo via Immingham was about 72,000 compared to just 18,500 via Hamburg.

He added that European ports are state-owned and competition to provide ports services is intense and effective in generating entrepreneurial spirit and keeping prices low.

"The stranglehold which landlords have got on, for example, the Humber is uniquely damaging our industry," said Mr Aarosin. "Mrs Thatcher was right to privatise the ports but this has now gone too far. The Humber is handicapped by being owned by one single, infrastructure operator.

"This extra UK cost is an important factor making the UK manufacturing industry uncompetitive."

An ABP spokeswoman said that it had invested more than 300m in the Humber over the last decade.

She added: "The draft Port of Immingham master plan which was published last month and is out for public consultation sets out ABP's costs vision for the future of the port and its commitment to continue to invest in its infrastructure.

"On the specific issue of pricing, it is an unfortunate fact that continental European ports continue to enjoy state support which distorts the market place. Comparisons in pricing between the UK and continental ports should be viewed in this context."