Major Freight and Container Terminal to be Constructed at Dover as Expansion Plans Take Shape

UK – In our round up last month of how British ports were coping with the new SOLAS regulations which insist on the verified gross mass (VGM) of every export container, we mentioned the major redevelopments planned for handling freight at the Port of Dover, known much more widely as Britain’s busiest ferry port. Now details have emerged of the major reconstruction planned in a scheme which should see a dedicated freight terminal at Dover ready for much larger quantities of container borne and conventional cargo by the second quarter of 2018.

The new facility will have a new weighbridge installed to cope with any necessary container mass verifications and will be operated by Mobile Harbour Cranes & Reach Stackers. The exact specification of the cranes is yet to be finalised but they will have a capability of handling fully-cellular vessels with 12 containers across on deck. The two new berths of 250 & 300 metres respectively will have alongside drafts of 10 metres.

Thought of by many, even in the logistics industry, as exclusively a ferry port, Dover does in fact already carry quantities of freight with Seatrade offloading cargo from its Northbound services as well as the occasional vessel call to take on grain export. The intention is to upscale container freight with a particular emphasis on temperature controlled items. To this end there will be a dedicated refrigerated store of 90 x 90 metres and capable of holding 6300 over-sized fruit pallets and equipped with fork lifts and pallet trucks. The operator of this facility is still to be determined.

Staying with cold chain cargo the new terminal will be outfitted with 200 reefer points to add to the existing 130 in Eastern Docks. There is an allowance made to supplement these with a further 200 as and when the need arises.

Photo: Western Docks Revival project.