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South Wales port sold to SIMEC

[ July 5, 2018   //   ]

The SIMEC Infrastructure arm of the global GFG Alliance conglomerate has agreed to buy Cargo Services which runs all freight-handling operations at Bird Port in Newport, South Wales. It follows SIMEC’s recent acquisition of the freehold of the freehold of the specialist steel and bulk hub.

Bird Port will be renamed SIMEC Bird Port and is the busiest dock on the Usk, handling up to 800,000 tonnes of cargo each year. It employs 64 people and offers undercover storage totalling over 160,000sq ft, with a double set of Goliath gantry cranes spanning the dock.

SIMEC says it was the first fully-undercover cargo-handling facility built on Britain’s west coast to allow loading and unloading of sea-going vessels in all weathers.

SIMEC will also acquire two Cargo Services subsidiaries – timber merchants Wm. Shapland & Sons and road hauliers, Ryan Transport, both located at Newport.

The new acquisition will be SIMEC’s second port on the River Usk – it also owns a facility adjacent to Liberty Steel Newport – another GFG Alliance company – slightly south of Bird Port. The company also owns Blyth Port, near Newcastle in North-East England.

Executive chairman of the GFG Alliance, Sanjeev Gupta, said: “We’re planning to install major steel-making capacity at Liberty Steel Newport and convert the neighbouring Uskmouth Power Station to renewable energy to drive the steel mill. At the same time plans are progressing for the M4 relief road and the abolition of Severn Bridge tolls. All of that ensures that this area’s importance as an international transport hub will increase immensely in the years ahead.”

Cargo Services chief executive, John Davey will continue to lead the operation as part of the GFG Alliance. He, said: “In 2017, after 21 years building and investing in the business, we decided it was time to sell to an organisation that could take it to bigger and better things, while, at the same time, safeguarding the long-term future of the enterprise and its workforce. SIMEC, as part of the global GFG Alliance, is exactly the right candidate to do just that.”

“Bird Port is an essential part of the Welsh economic infrastructure because it underpins leading Welsh steel firms as a mainstream outlet for their finished products. We have earned an unrivalled reputation for flexibility, best value for money service and rapid vessel turnaround due to a dedicated management and skilled workforce. This combination has seen the port’s throughput grow fourfold since 2004,” he added.

SIMEC is the energy, resources, transportation and infrastructure arm of the GFG Alliance; a global group of energy, mining, metals, engineering, logistics and financial services businesses, headquartered in London, with additional hubs in Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Sydney and a presence in around 30 countries worldwide.

 

 

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