London International Shipping Week 2017 – Humber Maritime Showcase success!

London International Shipping Week 2017 – Humber Maritime Showcase success!

Any lingering doubts over offshore turbines generating the clean, green power of the future have disappeared into…the wind.

On the eve of the first Humber Maritime Showcase at September’s London International Shipping Week the government revealed costs have halved to less than £58 per megawatt  hour.

It was a happy coincidence that gave the showcase an upbeat feel even before the line-up of speakers, which included Lord Prescott and senior representatives from business, academia and training, took up the task of extolling to a wider audience the Humber’s considerable strengths as a green energy provider.

As Lord Prescott put it, the Humber is one of the most exciting estuarial developments in the world today.

No one in a healthy audience was left in doubt over the sizeable clout our region packs. It is widely known now that we are the UK’s busiest ports complex by tonnage and the fourth biggest in Europe; then there are figures such as the Humber’s population being close to a million with unemployment at 5.4 per cent and dropping. Most significant is the estimated £23bn worth of North Sea offshore wind farm investments to be supported fully or partially from the Humber ports up to 2023.

We staged the showcase in the City of London in association with the Humber Local Enterprise Partnership, the University of Hull and other stakeholders and have had brilliant feedback. It has certainly raised our profile.

After the Humber Maritime Showcase and attending other events at London International Shipping Week, I was in no doubt  that we have a wealth of opportunity, now and in the coming years, and a lot to shout about.

As one of our showcase presenters, Simon  Bird, port director of ABP Humber, said: “We’ve got to keep the momentum going.”