A contract has been awarded for the latest phase of expansion at Hutchison Ports Port of Felixstowe appointing VolkerFitzpatrick Limited to undertake the design and construction of approximately 13 hectares of paved container yard.
The work will include the reclamation of 3.2 hectares of seabed behind the existing finger pier, directly behind Berth 9.
“Berths 8&9 were the first berths in the UK built to accommodate the latest class of ultra-large container vessels. The creation of additional container storage will allow us to optimise container handling operations between the berth and its supporting yard and further enhance the service we offer to our customers,” says Clemence Cheng, executive director, Hutchison Ports.
Completion of the new container yard, which will comprise ten container blocks and allow six-high stacking, is scheduled for early 2019.
The yard will add 18,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) of stacking capacity to the 130,000 TEU already available at the UK’s largest container port.
According to the port, the work will enhance Felixstowe’s ability to handle the world’s largest container ships. The port was the first in the UK to handle the latest class of 18,000+ TEU ships in 2013 and continues to handle more than any other port in the country, dealing with 42% of Britain’s containerised trade.
Earlier this week the port handled its 100th mega vessel of the year when the 18,270 TEU Matz Maersk arrived from Bremerhaven, Germany.
