Unifeeder, whose current weekly sailing into Immingham departs from Klaipeda/Gydnia and Szczecin, will be commencing the second service in to Hull from Klaipeda and Gdynia on 29th June. This additional short sea service aims to directly compete with the daily ro-ro ferry traffic and has been secured in order to meet the demand of the steadily increasing manufacturing industries in the Baltics and Poland. Unitised cargo is viewed as the most secure and efficient delivery method for transporting goods overseas.
The agreement is testament of Hull’s success against its competitor ports on the east coast of the UK. As previously reported, ABP have invested £50m in improving their two container terminals on the Humber. £15m of this investment will be put towards the purchase of two new liebherr ship-to-shore container cranes which will further support the growing demand of handling containerised goods. The cranes, which are due to be delivered to the Hull Container Terminal for March 2018 will be a welcome addition to the two new existing cranes which were purchased as part of a previous investment scheme and were installed last June. The impressive fleet will offer customers a two-berth, four-crane operation, boasting impressive discharge and load rates.
Andy Ellis, UK Country Manager for Unifeeder AS said: “Having worked in partnership with ABP for around 30 years, I have seen dramatic improvements across the organisation, especially within the container terminals. We market ourselves as a leading logistics provider therefore we need a port who can provide an efficient and effective service in order to meet our customer demand and ABP is continually improving.” Andy continued: “Regional distribution centres are setting up in the heart of the country and the ports on the Humber are ideally situated to reach the M62 corridor.”
Simon Bird, Regional Director for ABP Humber said: “We are extremely pleased to have secured this deal with Unifeeder as it means that together, we are able to provide door to door delivery around the clock to customers across the country.” He continued: “In the wake of the Brexit referendum we have heavily invested in our facilities as we have faith in our economy and this agreement demonstrates that we made the correct decision.”
Above: Andy Ellis of Unifeeder meets with ABP’s Chris Vause outside the Hull Container Terminal (Image courtesy of David Lee Photography Ltd / ABP –