Global Infrastructure Partners hebben IPH (Jersey) Ltd overgenomen. Dat is de havenontwikkelingsmaatschappij, die binnen een paar weken start met de bouw van een nieuwe haveninfrastructuur in de Britse oostkusthaven Great Yarmouth. Vanuit de nieuwe haven zullen binnen anderhalf jaar vooral shortsea verbindingen onderhouden worden. Onder meer kan Great Yarmouth in de toekomst gebruikt worden voor het feederverkeer naar havens op het Continent. In het bijzonder wordt daarbij gedacht aan de PSA terminals in Zeebrugge, Antwerpen en Rotterdam.LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a Credit Suisse and GE Infrastructure joint venture, said it has acquired 100 pct of IPH (Jersey) Ltd, the port development company that is building a new harbour and related infrastructure at Great Yarmouth on the UK's east coast. IPH has signed an agreement with the Great Yarmouth Port Authority under which it will acquire the existing port assets in exchange for building the outer harbour and expanding the port's infrastructure. IPH founder Alistair Baillie, a former chief operating officer of P&O Ports, will continue to manage the company, GIP said. 'The acquisition is a way of getting the capital backing required for the development at Great Yarmouth,' Baillie told Thomson Financial News in a telephone interview. 'Initial capital of 50 mln stg is needed for harbour infrastructure.' Construction of the new harbour, which was first proposed in 2000, will begin in the next couple of weeks and will take 15-18 months, Baillie said. IPH also announced it has entered into a joint venture with the world's second-largest port operator, Singapore-based PSA International, to develop and operate a shortsea container terminal in the new harbour. "The terminal will serve the European shortsea trades as well as medium-sized trades to the Mediterranean and Africa,' Baillie said. He added it could also be used for feeder traffic to continental European ports, particularly PSA's terminals in Antwerp, Zeebrugge and Rotterdam. Baillie also wants to attract a ferry operator to the port and expand its existing facilities serving the offshore oil and gas industries. 'Great Yarmouth will be a multipurpose port,' he said. 'The shortsea terminal is an important development, but the port will also serve the ferry industry, general cargo operators, the offshore industry and wind-farm developers.' Under its new ownership, IPH is looking for acquisition opportunities beyond the UK. 'We have a broad international mandate and we will be looking at medium-sized international ports and terminals,' Baillie said.
