Port of Dover privatisation in 2010?
DOVER Harbour Board has agreed in principle to submit a plan to the Department for Transport for possible privatisation in the new year.
Proposals will be forwarded in a deal industry insiders say could be worth up to £500 million.
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As well as the Port of Dover, the Port of Tyne, Harwich, Milford Haven, Port of Poole and Shoreham are on the list of possible sell-offs.
The announcement by the Prime Minister's office this morning follows months of rumour and hints the port may be up for sale.
Acting on behalf of DHB, the financial conglomerate Rothschild is seeking a buyer willing to accept two vital criteria that port bosses claim will result in pouring millions of pounds into local community projects.
Bob Goldfield, chief executive of Dover Harbour Board, said: "The board are minded to submit a scheme in the new year to bring in a private investor to the port but are considering the details of this with the department and the treasury."
The port's board is hoping to establish a Port of Dover Community Trust (PDCT) into which will be a flow of funds from the result of the sale and from future port profits.
Money in this charitable trust fund will be used to finance local projects.
The planned cable car link between Dover Castle and the sea front is one possibility.
"This represents a major change in our relationship with the town and district, providing for the first time the opportunity for the community to benefit financially from port activities, something not possible under our existing trust port status," says Mr Goldfield.
A second aim, designed to dampen opposition from port workers and trade unions, is to set up a share ownership trust (ESOT) for the 350 DHB employees who will become minor shareholders in the new company.
The decision to go for privatisation is a major change for members of Dover Harbour Board who, until now, have seen in it no benefit for the port and its stakeholders.
The change of direction is seen as a pre-emptive heading off of a "fire sale" of the trust port by the government, desperate for cash to help pay off the huge national debt. Under the proposed selective scheme the State will still get a major share of the price paid by the purchaser, possibly in excess of £100 million.
The privatisation scheme, if and when it goes ahead, represents the biggest revolution in the corporate structure of the port in more than 400 years, since James I provided the October 1606 charter under which the trust port now operates.
Mr Goldfield and his colleagues are confident they will be able to find a selected buyer interested in middle term or longer-term financial income growth, not a get-rich-quick organisation that would sell on the port after a spell of asset stripping.
Under the new regime the port authority, released from its trust status, will be able in time to expand into other activities that could eventually include the purchase of other ports and maritime businesses.
The Port of Dover is a highly profitable business. The latest published details, for 2008, show that profits of around £25 million was made on revenue of around £61 million.
The plans to sell the port would appear to be well-advanced, according to a written reply by transport minister Paul Clark and published in Hansard on December 3.
Mr Clark wrote: I met the director and chairman of the British Ports Association in October to discuss trust port issues including the implications of the request in Modernising Trust Ports, our guidance to the sector, for analyses by the major trust ports of their corporate structures.
"In addition, officials have had various discussions with the individual ports and their advisers, and banks, about the issues concerned. The Secretary of State has also met representatives from the ports of Dover and Tyne and Dover District Council."
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by Peter Aylett, Orpington
Wednesday, February 10 2010, 1:10PM
“I keep seeing and hearing the word TRUST. Well, who can we trust?. At the present time we are being governed by a bunch of thieves and fraudsters who call themselves The Labour Party, some of whom have been rightly brought to book. These people,( IN WHOM WE TRUST) are now trying to evade justice by attempting to use, Parliamentary Privalage as their defence. The danger of The Port of Dover falling in to foreign hands is probable and as like as not, we will be told what to do by the French. The sell off by the Government is a way of putting back into the treasury, money which has been purloined by our representatives in Government. Thanks very much Mr Mountford if you're looking for a Knighthood this will clinch it. As an ex employee of Dover Harbour Board I know only too well the chaos caused by striking french fishermen, seamen and farmers. Fortunately our customers could still cross the channel to the Belgian ports of Ostend and Zeebrugge. Imagine the port being under French controll. This is England. Mr Brown is a Scot. This Government has betrayed our trust and has lost all credibility. Don't allow them to sell, what little we have left, to Europe.”
by AlanC, Hassocks.Sussex
Monday, February 08 2010, 2:48PM
“Ghastly Gordon should not be allowed to keep flogging off national assets for short term gain, especially not into foreign ownership. Dover makes a profit, it will pay dividends on investment from home. Loss of long term income will get us further into the mire 'prudently' arranged by our wonderful ex-chancellor. We have flogged too much already - energy, water, BAA, etc, in addition to private sales of ICI, Cadbury, etc, etc ,etc ...- stop before we own nothing ourselves. Also beware directors' recommendations - they will mostly be in the usual self-interest which this country has also suffered for too long. Nice pay-offs for them of course - trebles all round!”
by Craig, Margate
Thursday, December 10 2009, 2:35PM
“A disaster for the port.............If Brown and his underhand morons get in next election....a disaster for the country !!”
by mark mcd, Folkestone
Wednesday, December 09 2009, 1:42PM
“Port Bosses and senior staff should not benefit in any way from the sell off, if this is a great idea for the community then that's exactly what it should be. I think we can be fairly certain that Mr Goldfield would not be pushing so hard if it was legislated that he did not benefit directly from the sale. Also will the people of Dover actually get a say in this decision? Surely the best way for Dover would be to remove the rules that diassalow the port to invest in the town in general rather than flogging off the entire port on the vague promise of more money for regenerating Dover? This on paper looks like simple greed on the part of the Senior management of the organistation.. if it isn;t then lets see said staff sign an agreement not to make any financial benefit from the arangement and they can benefit as much as the rest of the community....”
by JMB, Luxembourg
Tuesday, December 08 2009, 7:25PM
“The Port of Dover is crucial to Britain's economy. Allowing private owners to run it is tantamount to jeopardizing the country's future. Do people not realize what a mess the private Channel Tunnel company made of its assets until recently?”