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Peel Ports to invest £30m in new Sheerness ro ro berth

[ November 25, 2024   //   ]

Peel Ports Group investing £30million in a new in-riverro ro berth at Sheerness.

The in-river vessel berth and floating pontoon developed will increase capacity for wheeled cargo and cater for larger vessels exceeding 230 metres overall length.

Expected traffic are automotive, paper reels and timber, construction machinery and building materials, project cargo, agribulks, and steel. It will support customers such as Volkswagen and CEVA, who use Sheerness as the primary location for their Southern UK operations. Peel Ports Sheerness  handles around 300,000 vehicles a year.

As well as larger vessels, the pontoon will support quarter ramp vessels on both sides, plus stern ramp vessels on the adjacent berth.

Construction set to begin in March 2025, and the berth is expected to be operational in the summer of 2025.

Peel Ports is also proposing a rail siding connected to the main port estate via the Wildfire Bridge.

Port director for Great Yarmouth and London Medway, Richard Goffin, said: “The Port of Sheerness plays a hugely important role in the handling and processing of a broad range of commodities, whether it is automobiles, paper, or construction materials, ensuring that they reach their destination without delay.

“This £30 million project not only shows our ambition to grow our offering to a range of industries, it also represents the next stage of significant investment into the port’s infrastructure which will bolster our position as a leader in handling ro ro vessels.”

Finnlines has already launched a new freight from Finland to Sheerness, with connections to Belgium, Spain, and Ireland, which will be operated with three Finneco-class hybrid RoRo vessels.

Each vessel has a cargo capacity of 5,800 lane metres, equivalent to around 400 trailers.

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