Luxembourg headquartered CLdN has announced a further investment in its portfolio of English ports. The combined carrier is making a multi-million-pound commitment to their Killingholme terminal on the Humber, Britain’s busiest trading estuary.
Around GB£75bn (US$90bn) of trade by value sails through the Humber every year, and CLdN is seeking to handle more of that traffic. Today (31 March), the operator announced what it has called “a major investment plan” for its terminal at Killingholme. CLdN is moving quickly. They say the project will be completed in the second half of 2026.
Development of UK infrastructure
Investment in Killingholme has not come as a surprise to the region. Business interests in the area have long recognised the potential for Killingholme. Furthermore, the Humber is an open river, with competing port businesses operating. It was less a case of “whether” and more a matter of “how soon”. The company says the investment will lead to a significant enhancement of cargo handling capabilities at the terminal.
The project seeks to future proof for projected volume growth on North Sea connections between Killingholme and CLdN’s terminals in Rotterdam and Zeebrugge. “This investment is another signal of CLdN’s commitment to the development of its port infrastructure in the UK,” said Florent Maes, Chief Executive Officer of CLdN. “Our combination of shipping services and own port infrastructure is unique in the European short-sea sector and enables us to provide an unmatched range of services to our customers.”
Electric RTGs introduced
True to Florent Maes’s statement, the investment at Killingholme comes on the tide of investments that CLdN has recently completed in the UK. It has been on a programme of strengthening its port infrastructure. Projects completed include a new access to its port on the Thames at Purfleet in Essex, serving London. It’s also extensively renovated and expanded capacity at Liverpool, the port on England’s northwest coast. The terminal there, on the historic Brocklebank Dock in the centre of the city, plays a significant role in the traffic between England and Ireland, with twenty weekly sailings to Dublin already.
At Killingholme, the work to be undertaken includes a reconfiguration of the cargo handling operations to optimise the flow of freight through the terminal. The company says this will ensure an increase in handling and storage capacity for all cargo types, namely trailers, containers, tank containers and refrigerated units. CLdN has also invested in five electric RTGs (rubber tyred gantry cranes) to replace part of its existing fleet of diesel-powered reach stacker vehicles. “This will further improve operational efficiency and will enable the terminal to reduce its carbon footprint by between five and ten per cent”, claims the company.
North Sea growth ambitions
CLdN’s terminal at Killingholme is six miles downriver of Hull on the Humber. The port covers 100 hectares and has six deep-sea RoRo berths from which CLdN offers twelve return sailings a week between there and its terminals in Zeebrugge (Belgium) and Rotterdam (the Netherlands). From Killingholme, there are also ten other scheduled sailings split between Esbjerg, Gothenburg, Porto and Santander.
“Killingholme is an important hub connecting the North of England with mainland Europe,” observed Florent Maes. “Our ambition is to further grow this corridor in the coming years. The investment also demonstrates our drive to further decarbonise our port operations.” In addition to their own three terminals, CLdN operates out of three more ports in the UK, at Heysham and Teesport (both in England) and Warrenpoint, near Belfast in Northern Ireland.
