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The Port of Felixstowe, in
Felixstowe Felixstowe ( ) is a port town in Suffolk, England. The estimated population in 2017 was 24,521. The Port of Felixstowe is the largest Containerization, container port in the United Kingdom. Felixstowe is approximately 116km (72 miles) northea ...
, Suffolk, is the United Kingdom's busiest
container A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...
port, dealing with 48% of Britain's containerised trade. In 2017, it was ranked as 43rd busiest container port in the world and 8th in Europe, with a handled traffic of . The port is operated by the Felixstowe Dock and Railway Company, which was set up under an
Act of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...
, the Felixstowe Railway and Pier Act 1875, and so is one of the few limited companies in the UK that do not have the word "Limited" in their name. Much of the land on which it sits is owned by
Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...
, which in the 1930s bought some land near Felixstowe which included a dock that was too small to be included in the National Dock Labour Scheme. In 1967, it set up Britain's first container terminal for £3.5m in a deal with Sea-Land Service. Because container shipping is much more economically efficient in bulk, this early start led to it becoming the UK's largest container port, despite its previous insignificance to the shipping market. Felixstowe is owned by
Hutchison Port Holdings Hutchison Port Holdings Limited (HPH; ), trading as Hutchison Ports (), is a private holding company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands. The port operator group is a subsidiary of CK Hutchison Holdings (formerly Hutchison Whampoa). Some ...
(HPH) Group and has always been privately owned. In 1951, Gordon Parker, an agricultural merchant, bought the Felixstowe Dock & Railway Company, which at the time was handling only grain and coal. In 1976, Felixstowe was bought by European Ferries. In June 1991, P&O sold Felixstowe to Hutchison Whampoa of Hong Kong for £90m. In June 1994, Hutchison Whampoa's Hutchison International Port Holdings bought out Orient Overseas International's 25% stake in Felixstowe for £50m. On 21 August 2022, the first strike in thirty years occurred when about 1,900 Unite members walked out in a dispute over pay. The port has its own Port of Felixstowe Police,
fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition point, flames a ...
, and
ambulance An ambulance is a medically equipped vehicle which transports patients to treatment facilities, such as hospitals. Typically, out-of-hospital medical care is provided to the patient during the transport. Ambulances are used to respond to medi ...
services.


Description


Terminals

The port has two main container terminals, Trinity and Landguard, as well as a
roll-on/roll-off Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or using ...
terminal. There is a continuous quay of over , equipped with 29 ship-to shore gantry cranes. The main navigation channel is dredged to 14.5 metres below
chart datum A chart datum is the water level surface serving as origin of depths displayed on a nautical chart. A chart datum is generally derived from some tidal phase, in which case it is also known as a tidal datum. Common chart datums are ''lowest astr ...
, with a maximum depth of 15 metres alongside the quay. This allows Felixstowe to accommodate the world's latest generation of deep-draughted
post-Panamax Panamax and New Panamax (or Neopanamax) are terms for the size limits for ships travelling through the Panama Canal. The limits and requirements are published by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) in a publication titled "Vessel Requirements". ...
vessels and the much larger Maersk Triple E class, launched in 2013 and capable of carrying 18,000 TEUs.


Transport connections

The A14 connects the port to the
English Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...
and the M6, the north via the M1 and M6 and A1 and via the A12 to London. The port (as simply "Felixstowe") is signed from as far away as M6 junction 1 for Rugby. Each terminal has its own rail terminal which connects to the Felixstowe Branch Line.


Seafarers and crew welfare

Seafarers' welfare charity
Apostleship of the Sea The Apostleship of the Sea is an agency of the Catholic Church. It is also sometimes known as ''Stella Maris'' (Star of the Sea), and its patron is the Virgin Mary as Our Lady, Star of the Sea. Founded in Glasgow, Scotland in the early 20th centur ...
, which provides practical and pastoral support to seafarers, has
port chaplain
based at Felixstowe port.


Current developments


Felixstowe South

In 2008, work began on the construction and reconfiguration of Felixstowe South terminal creating 1,300 m of quay served by 12 new ship-to-shore gantry cranes. Work will be carried out in two stages with 750 m of sea wall complete by the end of 2010 and stage which is expected to open in 2014. This new terminal will have a clearance of 16 m and gantries suited for extra large box carriers.


Felixstowe and Nuneaton freight capacity scheme

The railway track between Felixstowe and Nuneaton has been upgraded to allow for more
freight trains Rail freight transport is the use of railroads and trains to transport cargo as opposed to human passengers. A freight train, cargo train, or goods train is a group of freight cars (US) or goods wagons (International Union of Railways) hauled ...
by clearing the route to W10 loading gauge, allowing 'Hi-cube'
shipping containers A shipping container is a container with strength suitable to withstand shipment, storage, and handling. Shipping containers range from large reusable steel boxes used for intermodal shipments to the ubiquitous corrugated box design, corrugated b ...
to be carried between the Port of Felixstowe and the
West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...
at Nuneaton. The West Coast Main Line had previously been cleared to W10 and the route from Nuneaton to Birmingham was already cleared to W12. This work will accommodate additional freight traffic as a result of 'Felixstowe South' expansion at the Port of Felixstowe. It will also allow the newer high-cube containers to be carried by train - and the percentage of these containers is expected to increase from 30% in 2007 to 50% in 2012. Network Rail completed the gauge enhancement from Ipswich to Peterborough in 2008. Work should be completed by 2014 at an estimated cost of £291 million.


Copdock Roundabout

As part of the Felixstowe South development, Hutchison Ports will provide financial support intended to increase capacity at the Copdock interchange (J55) between the A14 and the A12.


2022 dockers' strike

The dispute followed the Felixstowe Dock and Railway Company offering a pay increase of 5%. Unite reported that this equated to a real-terms pay cut with retail price inflation at 11.9%. In 2021, dock workers received a below inflation pay increase of 1.4%. In July 2022, Unite members at Felixstowe voted on industrial action and workers recorded a 92% yes vote on an 81% turnout. In August, dock workers walked out from the site in the first industrial action of its kind in 30 years. Coverage of the industrial action revealed that some Felixstowe dockers relied on the support of food banks and were struggling to make mortgage payments. Trade union communications by Unite used the hashtag #DockersDeserveBetter. In a press statement, General Secretery of Unite, Sharon Graham said: ''The bottom line is this is an extremely wealthy company that can fully afford to give its workers a pay rise. Instead it chose to give bonanza pay outs to shareholders touching £100 million.'' On August 24 footage and photographs recorded a port worker carrying a
Unite the Union Unite the Union, commonly known as Unite, is a British and Irish trade union which was formed on 1 May 2007 by the merger of Amicus and the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU). Unite is the second largest trade union in the UK (afte ...
flag surfed in front of an Evergreen Marine Corp container ship. The footage was published on Twitter by trade unionist and Labour councillor Lauren Townsend and included a sample from AC/DC's Back in Black.


References


Further reading


BRITISH TRANSPORT DOCKS (FELIXSTOWE) BILL
Discussion in the Commons - 1976
Thinking inside the box
BBC News article about growth of the port


External links

*
The Port of Britain - Official microsite
{{DEFAULTSORT:Felixstowe Ports and harbours of Suffolk Container terminals CK Hutchison Holdings
Port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...