Dibden Bay? – but not yet…..

In a retirement interview in the Daily Echo, Doug Morrison, former Port Director at ABP Southampton, confirmed that it is still ABP policy to develop a port facility at Dibden Bay. The need has been delayed by the development of a deep water berth in the Western Docks. The acquisition of the Marchwood Military port by ABP could also put back the need for a Dibden development, said Morrison.

This view is consistent with data published by the MM0 in its Economic Baseline Assessment of the South coast. The report confirms an expectation that container traffic will continue to increase. In the last 10 years the size of container ships has roughly doubled, so traffic volumes have increased much faster than ship movements. The report also anticipates that the development of Dibden could.be reconsidered in about six years time.

In the interview Doug Morrison said of the Dibden project :“There’s nowhere else.

“Goods will always come from where manufacturing is cheapest. It will always come by sea. At some point or other, where else have you got 800 acres of land next to deep water anywhere else in the country? I can’t think of any without spending billions upon billions like Boris’s Airport in the Thames.”