Newsletter

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Dear Andrew,

Welcome to the new MHPA e-newsletter!

Our intention is to keep you regularly updated on important developments taking place in and around the Port and on the Waterway as well as information and comment on some of the key issues likely to effect shipping and ports throughout the UK. With 90% of this country's imports ( as well as exports ) arriving by sea, the performance of British ports is important to you, your lifestyle and your work or business.

Ted Sangster
Chief Executive
Milford Haven Port Authority

IN THIS ISSUE:

LNG IS ON ITS WAY
RECORD SHIPPING LEVELS FOR MILFORD HAVEN PORT
REVALUATION EXERCISE THREATENS SMALL BUSINESSES
RIDING ON THE CREST OF A WAVE

Liquefied Natural Gas is on its way to Milford Haven, and we are ready and waiting!

The anticipated start of LNG operations here tomorrow with the arrival of the Tembek, puts Milford Haven on the threshold of leading the UK into a new energy era. Once fully operational, the two LNG facilities will mean that a potential 30% of the UK's gas requirements will be processed through the Port. With 20% of the UK's petrol and diesel provisions already being handled on the Waterway, Milford Haven will be the new energy capital of the UK.

Along with our many partners, we have been planning for many years for the arrival of the vessels which will bring the LNG to Milford - they'll be amongst the biggest ships we have seen here, comparable in size to the kind we have been handling for the past 40 years. We operate a Safety Management System which requires all our marine operations, as well as any movements of ships - including LNG vessels - to be underpinned by a comprehensive risk assessment; all that work has been done, and we await with excitement putting all the planning into effect!

Read more about the First Ship - Tembek

Record Shipping Levels for the Second Year Running

Milford Haven Port Authority is responsible for one of the largest oil ports in northern Europe - and we are delighted to announce we have achieved record shipping levels for the second consecutive year.

Dues-paying vessels into the port during the year equated to just under 53 million gross tons (52,836,757) - almost a 1.5 million tons increase on the previous record year of 2007. Contributing to this figure, in addition to the crude oil, refined products and LPG carriers, are ferries and general cargo shipments.

Revaluation Exercise Threatens Small Businesses at the Port

A recent revaluation exercise undertaken by the Valuation Office is threatening the future of many of the small businesses based in our port - and the Authority is in the vanguard of taking up the issue on their behalf.

The change in the port rating system is both increasing rates payable by a significant amount in addition to backdating required payments to 2005, and we are lobbying (Westminster) through the British Ports Association (BPA) and the Chamber of Shipping with our partner ports and ferry companies in Wales, and have recently met with the Deputy First Minister at the Welsh Assembly Government. It has also been taken up by the Finance Committee in Parliament, of which local MP Nick Ainger is a member. This Committee recommended that the blatently unfair backdating be abandoned, and any changes brought in in 2010 at the next revaluation round. Additionally the issue has been addressed throuth specifically called Commons debates in which both he and another local MP, Stephen Crabb, have seized upon the wider issues.

MHPA itself is facing potentially significant increases in costs and has engaged specialist advisors to help review these costs and work with us on the response to the valuations received. We expect that the result of this is that we will be discussing the new valuations with the Valuation Office and challenging some of their assumptions and calculations and if we cannot get agreement as a result, then we will be looking at entering into the formal appeals process.

Riding on the Crest of a Wave!

A Pembrokeshire boat company - one of the Port Authority's tenants - is riding on the crest of a wave having secured a multi-million-pound deal from China.

Mustang Marine, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, has just doubled the size and capacity of its covered building hall in the Royal Dockyard in Pembroke Dock, and is already considering a further expansion. The expansion was carried out the Port Authority as landlords, supported by the Welsh Assembly Government and will create eight new jobs, bringing the workforce up to 60.

Commercial director Ian Strugnell, who was brought in just over two years ago to develop business, said the new 33 metre by 40 metre facility was vital for future growth. "We have just secured a major Ł3m contract to supply two pilot boats each measuring 19.5 metres for Tianjin, which is China's fourth largest port," he said. "The new facility means we can now take on two or three major projects at one time and work on them simultaneously -which is safeguarding jobs in the short term and could lead to more employment in the future."