24-Oct-2000

His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh today visited the Port of Felixstowe, the UK’s largest container port.

His Royal Highness arrived at the Port by launch from Harwich where he had inspected Harwich Haven Authority’s Vessel Operations Centre. He was met at Felixstowe by Chris Gray, Managing Director of the Port of Felixstowe and Chief Executive of Hutchison Ports (UK) Limited, and Richard Pearson, Managing Director of Hutchison Westports Limited.

During a tour of the Port His Royal Highness was shown the state-of-the-art facilities in the Operations Centre at Trinity Terminal and ascended one of the huge gantry cranes used to work the world’s largest container ships. The crane is 100 metres tall and provided a platform for His Royal Highness to view the area available for future port expansion. He was also able to meet a number of port workers during his visit including Vessel Controllers and Ship Planners.

Commenting on the visit Chris Gray said:

“It was a great honour for us to have the opportunity to show His Royal Highness our facilities and to explain to him our plans for the future. We explained how environmental concerns have been taken into account during the phased expansion of the Port and how we plan to complete the development of Trinity Terminal.”