Ste­na Line and Asso­cia­ted Bri­tish Ports to pro­gress new £200M fer­ry ter­mi­nal in Immingham

In a major step for­ward for the pro­ject, this appr­oval means that con­s­truc­tion can offi­ci­al­ly begin on the new RoRo fer­ry ter­mi­nal. Fol­lo­wing the appr­oval, the pro­ject was fea­tured this week at the UK Government’s show­ca­se Inter­na­tio­nal Invest­ment Summit.

In 2022, Ste­na Line and ABP signed an agree­ment which will see the fer­ry com­pa­ny ope­ra­te the new ter­mi­nal for the next 50 years. This long-term com­mit­ment will pro­vi­de a boost to the North-East of Eng­land, whe­re the unac­com­pa­nied freight mar­ket has been ste­adi­ly growing.

Ste­na Line is one of the lar­gest fer­ry ope­ra­tors in the world with 20 rou­tes, and 40 ves­sels ope­ra­ting in Nor­t­hern Euro­pe and the Medi­ter­ra­ne­an. Loca­ted in Lin­colnshire, Imming­ham is beco­ming a stra­te­gic hub for the com­pa­ny, which curr­ent­ly runs two dai­ly ser­vices from the Hum­ber regi­on to The Net­her­lands. Ste­na, the group which owns Ste­na Line, also recent­ly beca­me the sole owner of trans­port and logi­stics busi­ness, NTEX, which has its UK head­quar­ters in the port.

With cus­to­mer demand con­ti­nuing to grow for the com­pa­ny in the regi­on, Ste­na Line requi­res addi­tio­nal capa­ci­ty to expand its ope­ra­ti­ons at Imming­ham. The new RoRo ter­mi­nal is a long-term solu­ti­on in a new loca­ti­on which pro­vi­des access to the main Hum­ber Estua­ry, allo­wing for quicker sai­ling times and the opti­on to use lar­ger ves­sels to cater for increased freight demand from export­ers and importers from across the regi­on and the rest of the UK.

Nic­las Mår­ten­sson, CEO of Ste­na Line said: “We are very plea­sed that the Secre­ta­ry of Sta­te has appro­ved the new RoRo ter­mi­nal at the Port of Imming­ham. The port is of gre­at stra­te­gic importance to Ste­na Line and we will aim to build on the suc­cess we have seen in the unac­com­pa­nied freight market.

“This is a long-term com­mit­ment for us and will be inte­gral to expan­ding our freight ope­ra­ti­ons on our rou­tes bet­ween the UK and Con­ti­nen­tal Euro­pe to ser­ve demand. Cou­pled with Stena’s recent acqui­si­ti­on of NTEX, we’re loo­king for­ward to this deve­lo­p­ment expan­ding our busi­ness and streng­thening our posi­ti­on in the North-East Eng­land market.”

Hen­rik Peder­sen, CEO of ABP said: “We are deligh­ted that the Deve­lo­p­ment Con­sent Order (DCO) for the Imming­ham Eas­tern Ro-Ro Ter­mi­nal (IERRT) has been gran­ted. This appr­oval marks a signi­fi­cant mile­stone in our mis­si­on to Keep Bri­tain Tra­ding through enhan­cing the UK’s logi­stics infra­struc­tu­re and bols­te­ring trade capa­ci­ty across the North Sea. We will be revie­w­ing the con­di­ti­ons within the DCO appr­oval and are com­mit­ted to deli­ve­ring a via­ble and com­pli­ant project.

“The IERRT pro­ject is a key com­po­nent of our stra­tegy to streng­then the UK’s sup­p­ly chains and impro­ve trade con­nec­ti­vi­ty, whilst also brin­ging sub­stan­ti­al eco­no­mic bene­fits inclu­ding the crea­ti­on of hundreds of jobs during con­s­truc­tion and ongo­ing ope­ra­ti­ons. We are con­fi­dent that, with the neces­sa­ry adjus­t­ments, we can pro­ceed on sche­du­le to begin con­s­truc­tion in 2025 and com­ple­te the pro­ject by 2026.”

Simon Bird, Regio­nal Direc­tor of the Hum­ber ports said: “This is fan­ta­stic news for the Hum­ber and the UK more gene­ral­ly. The IERRT deve­lo­p­ment signi­fi­cant­ly increa­ses the Port of Immingham’s capa­bi­li­ty and capa­ci­ty for hand­ling unac­com­pa­nied freight units across the North Sea.

“This addi­tio­nal capa­ci­ty is requi­red to meet the iden­ti­fied gro­wing com­mer­cial demand whilst at the same time streng­thening the Hum­ber Estuary’s con­tri­bu­ti­on to an effec­ti­ve, effi­ci­ent, com­pe­ti­ti­ve and resi­li­ent UK Ro-Ro freight sec­tor. IERRT also responds to the trend for lar­ger RoRo ves­sels, requi­ring lar­ger port infra­struc­tu­re and landsi­de space.

“As well as sup­port­ing and gro­wing jobs in the busi­nesses using IERRT, the pro­ject its­elf is the source of addi­tio­nal employ­ment. It will crea­te c700 jobs during the con­s­truc­tion pha­se and then c200 per­ma­nent jobs once ful­ly operational.”

Carl Johan Hell­ner, Chief Ope­ra­ting Offi­cer, Ports and Ter­mi­nals, Ste­na Line added: “This announce­ment is a tes­ta­ment to the suc­cess of Ste­na Line’s part­ner­ship with ABP. We look for­ward to buil­ding on the col­la­bo­ra­ti­on fur­ther to secu­re long-term value for our cus­to­mers and sup­port the future of UK trade growth.”