ABP celebrates strong performance

(Posted on 20/07/21)

Associated British Ports (ABP), the UK’s leading ports group, has published its Annual Review 2021, which highlights its success in fulfilling its mission to keep Britain trading, despite the unprecedented array of challenges it faced.

“Our mission of Keeping Britain Trading has remained unchanged, and despite the challenges of the last year, I’m proud to say all our ports have remained open. We’ve made some bold investments to stay ahead, and we emerge from the Covid period stronger than ever and focused on the key role we have in the UK’s economic recovery,” said Henrik L. Pederson, Chief Executive Officer.

ABP has invested in infrastructure, digitalisation and sustainability across its 21 ports. Investments include £50 million in ABP’s new container terminals in Immingham and Hull in the Humber region, and £55 million in ABP’s new ‘Horizon’ cruise terminal in Southampton, supporting sustainable cruising. ABP’s Port of Southampton is also the first British mainland port to launch a private 5G network, providing low latency, secure connectivity for its customers, in partnership with Verizon.

Building on ABP’s outstanding success of reducing its carbon emissions by 35% since 2014, ABP has continued to decarbonise its own operations throughout the last year, gaining ISO 14001 Certification for Environmental Management for all 21 ports. Furthermore, in 2020, ABP’s Port of Hull completed the UK’s largest commercial rooftop solar array.

In addition to supporting sustainable supply chains, ABP is a partner for emerging green technologies, such as Offshore Wind. ABP announced a major investment project, the Lowestoft Eastern Energy Facility (LEEF) at the Port of Lowestoft in March 2021. Tailored to the offshore energy industry’s latest requirements, it creates a highly competitive offer for ABP’s customers. ABP is also a leading partner in the Zero Carbon Humber initiative, which plans to develop carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) and low-carbon hydrogen production facilities, with the potential to decarbonise the UK’s largest industrial cluster and make a significant contribution to the UK’s net zero efforts.

With the welcome news of ABP’s four successful freeport bids, in the Humber, the Solent, Garston and Plymouth, which will bring jobs and increased investment to these regions, ABP is at the heart of the UK’s green recovery.