Plans to spend ‘up to £12 million’ on port infrastructure at Ramsgate in readiness for a ferry operator have been branded ‘a vanity project’ forced on officers due to ‘a political decision made by the last administration.’
Councillors at a scrutiny meeting last week raised a number of concerns about pursuing the port project – part of the £19.8m Levelling Up programme with funding granted by government in 2021.
Some £9,615,100 has been earmarked for port projects with £3.5 million of this for improved port infrastructure.
However, a report to councillors says port infrastructure work is likely to need £10m, far exceeding the £3.5 allocated for site clearance and remediation; improved breakwater and new berthing infrastructure.
The Port Infrastructure project includes the refurbishment of berths 2 and 3, and land based works needed to support ro-ro ferry operations, including facilities for UK Border Force.
Berths 2 and 3 were the subject of refurbishment works eight years ago with a value at the time of £1.2m. Three years later, Berth 3 was decommissioned to reduce the cost of routine maintenance.
Berth 2 remains operational and since the last refurbishment has handled trade car arrivals generating an income of just over £1m, although the council hasn’t listed revenue costs during that period.
The report says: “The port infrastructure project is currently estimated by officers to be £10m +/- 25%.”
But councillors at a scrutiny meeting last week cast doubt over the scheme with Cllr John Davis questioning whether it would be a repeat of the Seaborne Freight debacle which was awarded a £13.8million government contract in December 2018 for extra ‘Brexit-resilience’ crossings despite having no ferries.
In 2020 the company went bust owing almost £2 million.
Seaborne Freight began negotiations to run a Ramsgate-Ostend ferry service in 2017 but the service did not materialise on the proposed March 2018 start date.
During the 2018 Christmas period news emerged that Seaborne Freight had been awarded a government contract worth £13.8million to provide extra ferry capacity to UK ports in the event of a no deal Brexit on March 29 – despite having no ferries and no track record.
By January Britain and Ireland’s largest union, Unite, called for then transport secretary Chris Grayling to resign in the wake of the ‘no-deal Brexit’ ferry service contracts.
In February 2019 the government contract with Seaborne was terminated.
Cllr Davis (Conservative) said: “Einstein’s definition of lunacy is to keep doing the same thing expecting a different outcome.”
He questioned why Berths 2 and 3 were yet again earmarked for funding after having £1.2m spent on them in 2016, why Border Force was needed for unaccompanied freight, why £100,000 was being spent on a condition report when funds had been used to maintain the berths already and branded the port and ferry proposal “a vanity project.”
Cllr David Green (Labour) questioned disparities in the report over the project’s funding gap, saying “The figures do not make sense to me. Is the funding gap £2.25m or £7m?”
Cllr Green also asked when an Environmental Impact Assessment would be undertaken to look at how increased port operations would affect the town.
Council officer Louise Askew said the exact funding gap would not be known until a costing report was finalised in June. Funding may be moved from other schemes, such as the restaurant plan for the Smack Boys Home which has now been shelved, which could transfer to the port.
Cllr Becky Wing (Green) said officers were being “forced down a track that was put in motion by the previous administration” and questioned whether it would create further liabilities for taxpayers similar to the lease with Brett Aggregates that binds the council to maintaining the company’s berth until 2054.
The aim of the port work is to prepare for an operator to bring ferry services back to Ramsgate.
The last ferry to operate from Ramsgate was TransEuropa Ferries which went bankrupt in 2013 and left Thanet council with £3.4 million in unpaid berthing fees.
A council report says: “The Port Infrastructure project is designed to invest in the infrastructure at the Port of Ramsgate, to enable the reintroduction of scheduled Ro-Ro ferry services operating from berths 2 and 3, with an initial focus on unaccompanied freight.
“The project includes both marine based works, including the refurbishment of berths 2 and 3, and the mooring spine that links the berths, together with land based works needed to support Ro-Ro ferry operations, such as Border Force facilities.
“It is clearly essential that this project is coordinated with the already approved work to secure a new operator for Ro-Ro operations at the port.”
In March last year Thanet council agreed on a multi-purpose Port Hybrid option where the council would retain management of part of the Port, splitting the commercial activity by the type of operation. The council would retain control of non-ro-ro traffic, with ro-ro cargo and traffic managed by a third party.
Agreements with Brett Aggregates and wind farm operators would remain in place. There will be negotiations with Brett Aggregates about expanding on a further two acres of land. The existing aggregates site occupies two acres of land and is served by berth 4/5, which was replaced in 2022.
The port infrastructure project also includes funding for capital dredging to restore the depth at the port to that required for cross channel ferry operations.
However, Cllr Davis said any potential operator should be asked to provide details of vessels and schedules for the port, adding that: “The vessels do not exist on the shipping register that are of a standard that we would want. We do not want a harbour full of tramp steamers dumping rusty unaccompanied freight trailers.”.
He said the longest vessel to have used the port since 2016 has been the Gefco car transporter at 157 metres long. He said a report commissioned from Infrata by Thanet council last year referred to vessels at 180m being tested at the port, including the Pride of Burgundy, but both vessels were now scrapped.
Cllr Davis said the council’s decision to try and revitalise the port was ‘madness’ based on a commissioned report containing “fake information and falsities.”
Councillors were told interest in being a port operator had been expressed but ‘commercial sensitivity’ meant no names could be released.
Following the meeting Thanet council Leader Rick Everitt described the comparison made by Overview & Scrutiny Panel members with Seaborne Freight and the project to replace berths 4/5 at the port as ‘a false one.’
He said: “Seaborne Freight was a government exercise to procure a ferry operator.It was in no way a Thanet responsibility.”
“The council is looking to appoint an experienced, substantial, and existing port operator, who will take on the risk of any ferry operation. We have received substantial interest on the basis of the actual situation at the port of Ramsgate.
“ It is reasonable to assume that the potential operators have the knowledge and expertise needed to make an informed decision about their own business.
“The council had to replace berths 4/5 because it had a contractual obligation to do so. We are not obliged to operate a port and have not committed to the works to allow a new ferry service.
“We won’t do so until we understand the costs in full and can make a decision on the basis of firm interest. If it doesn’t work for Ramsgate and Thanet we won’t do it, but we need to follow the process to find out.”
A ‘port narrative’ published in 2022 said: “The objective of re-establishing a cross channel RoRo operation is to create jobs at Ramsgate and ease the significant risks for UK PLC when moving freight to and from the continent.
“A service from Ramsgate will offer an alternative route to the logistics sector and importantly, will create local jobs. A new cross channel service will make the port more sustainable in the long term – for the council and for the district.
“The plan is to allocate 48% of the site for RoRo operations. 22% is already allocated to existing port related businesses, and a further 5% will be retained for shared site access within the port estate.
“This creates potential for the remaining 25% to be released for new maritime related opportunities, including the Green Campus site. This remaining space at the Port should be used to help support the economic regeneration and growth needed in Ramsgate.”
The Port of Ramsgate, at 34 acres, is owned and operated by Thanet District Council – some of the site is Crown land. It is one of 23 municipal ports in England and Wales and is currently used by a variety of maritime businesses.
