ABP Keeping Britain Trading
Associated British Ports (ABP) teams pulled off a first at the Humber International Terminal (HIT) at the port of Immingham when it welcomed its first deep sea automotive vessel.
The berthing and discharge operation of the RCC America on Wednesday 23 February was the first of its kind at HIT, having never berthed or discharged a car carrier before. The operation involved multiple departments from across ABP working closely with GBA, the stevedoring company, to safely and successfully complete the major task.
Carrying an initial cargo of 2,570 vehicles the RCC America arrived at the port as it was too large to be accommodated at the Grimsby River Terminal. Due to the success of this operation a further 2,700 vehicles arrived on Saturday 26 February aboard the Glovis Splendour.
Customer, Kia UK Ltd. imports already arrive through the port, but due to an increase in customer demand and a volume of new car sales, additional berthing was needed, and HIT was able to provide.
Simon Bird, Director of ABP Humber said: “We’re delighted to support Kia UK Ltd. with this arrival of a deep-sea vessel to the Humber International Terminal. It’s great to see the internationally acclaimed business is committed to the Humber region.
“The Marine, Commercial, Operations and Projects departments have all worked extremely closely on the project, from the moment the customer confirmed that HIT was an option, all the way to the final vehicle being discharged. It’s been a real testament to these teams that a solution was found, and the vehicles were able to safely discharge on the HIT 2 jetty.”
Kia UK Ltd. Sales Director, Steve Hicks commented on the achievement “Kia’s recent sales performance in the UK has been unprecedented, having finished the month of January as the biggest selling automotive brand in the UK. This huge demand for our products shows no sign of slowing, so effectively delivering our ever-growing product range at the rate that satisfies customer demand is absolutely essential. We’d like to thank ABP for rising to the challenge and successfully bringing our products ashore.”
ABP’s Operations team, working closely with other teams, had to ensure that the stern quarter ramp was able to safely land on the HIT 2 jetty, in a position that would allow the safe discharge of the Kia vehicles.
The team also had to identify a safe and secure compound where the 2,600 vehicles could be discharged into and plan a safe and efficient route for the vehicles to travel from the vessel to the compound.
Kia has a 192-strong UK dealer network and operates across all the UK. Since the brand’s arrival in the UK in 1991, Kia has sold well over 1.2 million new vehicles to British motorists and in January 2022 was the biggest selling automotive brand in the UK.
