This Talk was well-received and began with us being put in the picture of the real importance of Humber ports for trade in and out of the UK because out of the 21 country-wide ABP ports, Humber is the largest port group in the UK. As well as Grimsby, ‘Humber Ports group’ includes Immingham, Goole and Hull, with Immingham the busiest in terms of cargo tonnage having the deeper channels for deep sea tankers and container ships. Grimsby’s importance since the demise of fishing is increasingly in windfarm servicing, car imports and other cargos.
An aerial view of Grimsby Port was an interesting one, demonstrating the large amount of reclaimed land that is the port area . 17% of maritime industry goes through Grimsby; in fact, HES (Humber Estuary Services and Pilots services) which used to be based on Spurn, now has a new £multi-million base at Grimsby due to the port’s strategic position on the Humber for overseeing 145 miles of the North Sea.
Grimsby Port as we know it, began in the 1800s then the building of The Royal Dock in 1852 followed by Union Dock in 1870s to join Fish Dock and Royal Dock. The port itself has changed over the years to survive. As ships increase in size, docks have to change to accommodate them and this has also necessitated dredging, if not to create larger channels, then keeping channels open. Currently, it is the enormous car ferries which drive the future; annually, 800,000 cars are handled by Immingham and Grimsby and in Grimsby’s case, more land has been acquired on the west side of the port (old Tioxide land) for car storage prior to their UK-wide distribution. Tom was keen to point out that the wildlife habitat in this particular area will be preserved.
Onto the area known as The Kasbah* and its future. There are 16 Listed structures within the Docks area (a number which Tom confirmed in the question and answer session as being ‘unique’ to any present-day working docks). Being a 24/7 working docks however, public access is an issue for port authorities now and in the future. Restrictions as regards access to any working port has increased greatly in recent years and as such, The Kasbah will never be part of night-life economy as has happened in other UK historical docks. What is being sought to maintain a sustainable use however, is small-scale industry – we were reminded that even though the dock area is subject to restrictions, members of the public can access when on legitimate business.
As perhaps would be expected, Tom was asked if he knew if anything was happening about the Ice Factory and we were assured that a developer was now in talks – but a non-disclosure agreement prevented him saying anything more than that.
One question asked of him, regarded rising water levels and effects on docks’ operation. We were told that any port has a ‘duty of care’ to report to authorities about changes in tidal conditions and we were reminded that the particular way of handling of a recent tidal surge by port authorities resulted in it being taken on as a recognised procedure in other ports in future extreme tidal events.
Speaker Tom Jeynes (on left) with Chairman Alan Nicholson and Graeme Bassett (right) with audience memberThe Talk was well received by the audience with many commenting on the real positives made evident by current and future port operations and subsequent economic well-being of the area.
For more facts and figures go to www.abports.co.uk/locations/grimsby/ (you can also access the video with ‘uplifting music’ we were unfortunately not able to hear on this talk!) and some excellent views of the estuary at http://www.humber.com/
*Grimsby Cleethorpes and district Civic Society has, in its various meetings with members of the public heard many times the “I worked on Grimsby Docks all my life and I’ve never ever heard of The Kasbah before – who invented it?” However, over-time, we have come to learn from various sources, that The Kasbah was indeed a small defined area known only to a few workers in its immediate area, for its narrow passageways (now long-gone) and their similarity to a Moroccan market. The Kasbah we are now hearing of in Grimsby, we take to be a larger area than that previously known, to encompass the row of Listed properties immediately on the dock side with the intention of both defining that larger area of historical interest, and distinguishing it from modern-day commerce. SM