Mersey Reports Profits, Eyes British Port Consolidation
Mersey Docks and Harbour Co. has reported an increase in profits of nearly eight percent in the first half, its shares following suit with a similar rise. Representatives of Mersey, which owns the Port of Liverpool and the ports of Sheerness and Chatham in southeast England, said the company’s investment program was reaping rewards as it managed to push up profits despite flat volumes of cargo. The program was buoyed by achieving record volumes in two key market sectors — containers and Irish Sea roll-on roll-off freight — which gave it a better overall mix of cargo, officials added. This helped compensate for the loss of nearly a million tons of business due to the ban made effective Jan. 1 on the dumping of river sludge out at sea.
Mersey Docks and Harbour Announces Record Profits
Mersey Docks and Harbour Company Plc, the U.K.'s number two port operator last week said full-year profits reached record levels. The group, which owns the Port of Liverpool, said pre-tax profits rose 9.2 percent to $82.52 million, while turnover rose 5.7 percent. A rise in passenger traffic from Liverpool to Dublin, and the amount of fruit handled at the Sheerness port, near London, boosted earnings. Mersey Docks Chairman Gordon Waddell and CEO Trevor Furlong have both advocated the consolidation of Britain's port industry, and Waddell said Mersey Docks would benefit from any consolidation due to its strong cash flow.
