Ferry News Archive
Isle of Wight haulage boss against new ferry port
Date: 16 Oct 2006 00:00 Source: Isle of Wight todayThe head of the Isle of Wight's foremost haulage company has told councillors he would not be in favour of creating a new ferry port.
Steve Porter was giving evidence to the policy commission for economy, tourism, regeneration and transport in its investigation into the sustainability of Island ports and the question of whether a fourth port was needed.
Mr Porter said he feared a new ferry operator would increase competition but in the long term it would mean only the more profitable services would be retained by all operators.
This would hit off-peak and night-time services, which were vital to a haulage business.
It would also mean more tourists, which in turn meant more traffic jams, turning the Island into a less attractive place to visit.
"It would be like putting an extra lane on the M25. All it does is suck in more traffic. Do you want to do that and make it a less attractive place to live in and visit?" asked Mr Porter.
Instead of creating a new port, he would endorse a suggestion made to him by a Wightlink manager that two link-spans could be used side by side on the ferries so loading and unloading could take place at the same time.
"That would ease congestion in the ports because the traffic would be moving more quickly. My view is there is no justification for a fourth port or third ferry operator," he said.
He told members of the policy commission the real growth in the haulage business was in home deliveries due to internet shopping. This sector had risen by 17 per cent.
Retail customers no longer wanted great stockpiles of goods but re-stocking took place automatically as an item went through the tills.
"Essentially this means 24-hour ferry services are required because our customers demand next-day delivery.
"A lorry can leave the Island at 5pm and have a pallet from Edinburgh delivered back on the IW the next morning," he said.
Cllr Charlie Hancock, who is leading the investigation, said meetings, some of them private, had been held with the ferry companies at which dual link-spans had been discussed.
"There are concerns about the capacity in some of the ports that we have already and the perception could be that dual use link-spans could increase the problems, not solve them," said Cllr Hancock.
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