ABP's south wales ports half-year results
South Wales Ports rise by more than five per cent over the same period in 2005, APB reports The Ports of Swansea, Port Talbot, Barry, Cardiff and Newport handled 8.1 million tonnes of cargo in the first six months of 2006 – an increase of 418,000 tonnes.
ABP’s Port Talbot handled nearly 4.6 million tonnes of cargo in the first half of 2006, an increase of nine per cent over 2005 figures. The port’s Tidal Harbour is used predominantly by Corus to import coal and iron ore, while the inner dock handles processed slag, general bulks and steel for third-party customers.
So far this year, ABP’s Port of Newport has handled 1.6 million tonnes of cargo.
Compared to the first six months of 2005, cargo volumes at the Port of Cardiff rose by four per cent to 1.3 million tonnes. Steel volumes, in particular, have been strong this year, partly due to an increase in output at Celsa (UK) Ltd’s wire-products mill and smelter, located next to the Cardiff port estate. Timber volumes, imported through the port from the Baltic states and Scandinavia, also continued to rise in 2006.
The first six months of the year saw the Port of Swansea handle over 370,000 tonnes of cargo, including the single largest consignment of forest products to be handled in South Wales. The shipment eclipsed the region’s previous single largest shipment of timber, which was also imported through the port, in 2005.
Scrap-metal volumes at the Ports of Newport, Cardiff and Barry have continued to rise this year on the back of steady growth experienced by port customers Sims Group, European Metal Recycling and Dunn Brothers (1995) Ltd. The three ports handled 375,000 tonnes of scrap metal during the first half of the year, more than double last year’s volumes for the same period.