Privatisation comes nearer for port of Dover
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by Graham Tutthill
The Port of Dover could be fully
privatised, it has been revealed.
Dover Harbour Board has announced that it has made a formal
application to the Transport Secretary for authority to restructure
the organisation in order to introduce private capital.
It follows months of speculation and means that the port will
move fully into the private sector and will no longer be a trust
port.
In August the Department for Transport asked each trust port to
consider what structure would be most appropriate for their
continuing development and success.
Audio: MP Gwyn Prosser
talks to reporter Katie Lamborn
Dover was said to be the trust port most advanced in its
analysis and planning, and now the board has confirmed that it has
developed an ownership and governance option, whereby private
capital could be introduced to the port.
At the same time it will set up a locally-based charitable trust
to channel funds to local community projects over a longer term
basis, something that is not possible with as a trust port.
"This
will provide, for the first time in Dover’s history, the
opportunity for the local community to have a direct stake in the
port’s commercial success and to benefit directly from the sharing
in that success," said chief executive Bob Goldfield.
"Such a change in its ownership will ensure that the necessary
capital is secured for investment in the port to deliver new
capacity as and when it is required. The port will also be free to
pursue other commercial opportunities to grow, both in Dover and
elsewhere."
Dover Harbour Board chairman Roger Mountford said: "Over recent
years the port has grown and broadened its business and improved
its efficiency. Like its customers, it has to maintain this
momentum.
"To do this the port needs access to private capital and to
benefit from new opportunities. At the same time, the board wants
to respect the special status of a trust port in bringing forward
plans that will ensure that the local community, of which the port
forms a part, will share in the port’s continuing development and
success.
"The application to restructure the port follows the Board’s
recent submission to the government seeking permission to construct
a new ferry terminal in the western docks, an investment likely to
total some £400 million. The proposed restructuring would give the
port access to private capital markets and thus the funding needed
to build the new terminal."
Tuesday, January 26 2010
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