Olympic Champion Launches 100 Million Pound Terminal Extension
UK – As described in our story last month four times Olympic champion Sir Ben Ainslie was on hand to open the Port of Southampton’s new £100 million container berth SCT 5, designed to handle the largest and deepest vessels in the world. The event took as its theme ‘Setting the Gold Standard’ for obvious reasons and featured the loading of an eye catching ‘golden’ box, supplied by leading container logistics company Pentalver, onto the 18,000 TEU capacity CMA CGM ship Marco Polo. Chris Lewis, Managing Director of DP World Southampton, the terminal operator, said:
"This new facility is a major investment in the future of Southampton’s container operations and a huge vote of confidence in the team we have here to continue to deliver UK leading performance."
The port hosted a day of celebrations, which saw more than 300 guests drawn from the global shipping industry, local community and port staff entertained by BBC South Today's Sally Taylor holding a live question and answer session with the America's Cup winning sailor who duly commented:
"As someone who lives here in Hampshire, I know how the port is at the centre of the region's life and economy. So I'm proud to be part of something that has such a big role to play in its future. Whether in sport or in business you can't sit on your laurels. Success is hard won and competition is fierce. That's why this new facility is so impressive. It's a bid to stay ahead of the competition and I can relate to that."
Pentalver was delighted to demonstrate why the company remains one of the leading lights in the container trade after over three decades in the industry. The company operates from four UK facilities (Tilbury, Southampton, Felixstowe and Cannock) whilst operating a fleet of over 200 articulated vehicles and handling 1 million TEU of containers each year. It also supplies and modifies new and refurbished boxes in a wide variety of configurations and has a particular link with ocean racing as Sam Baggley, Group Container Sales Manager, explains:
“We were delighted to be asked to provide a gold ‘wrapped’ container for the event and that it played such a pivotal role in the opening of the new berth. Increasingly we are asked to undertake bespoke modifications to containers and once again have been working with the Volvo Ocean Race team to provide converted ISO containers which will be used for workshops for the 2014 race season.
“The containers will form two villages that leapfrog along the race route, providing essential sail making, rigging and engineering facilities to the race team. Each container has be specially designed in conjunction with the race organisers to provide the best use of space, enabling teams to undertake works to their boats at each stage.”
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