For those still curious, here is my report on this meeting. Took a while but I do have four children.
Annual Port Consultative Meeting
Monday 21st May 2012
A short film showing some of DHB's successes over the past year preceded the meeting.
Robin Mountford (DHB Chairman) Opened the meeting with a few remarks on their very good safety record. He went on to stress the importance of the meeting as a way of engaging with their stakeholders and the wider community. Robin was happy to report that the Minister for State had found in their favour on the Section 31 appeal on Tariffs and that they had been granted their Harbour Revision Order for T2, they were moving ahead in preparation for this with works on the access road from the Union Street roundabout. In closing, he said how sad they all were at the demise of Sea France.
Jean Griff presented the Financial report, which is available in the published 'Annual Report and Accounts. Included in the figures was the Traffic Summary (in '000's)
Passengers 12,989 - down 3.5% on 2010
Cars 2,653 - down 5.9% on 2010
Coaches 85 - down 1.2% on 2010
In numbers
Ferry Entries 17,443 - down 12.1% on 2010
Cruise Entries 136 - down 18.6% on 2010
Other Entries 193 - down 0.5% on 2010
Tim Waggott presented a review of Key Deliverables.
These began with T2 (as and when required) and moved on to the £9 million pier extension programme, including berth refit and renewal. Berths 2,3 & 7 are to be done with berth 3 well under way. Resurfacing work is being carried out on the parking areas as well as capacity enhancements that will give 280 more vehicle spaces. Heritage conservation projects are underway on the old station (now the cruise terminal) and Albert Pier.
Robin Doderage gave a short presentation on operative safety, emphasising that DHB have reduced by 50% the number of accidents (from 2 to 1), the security of the port and the good work of the Port of Dover Police. Under environmental issues, he noted that landfill was down by 16%.
Bob Goldfield began by saying that they had felt the effects of Eurotunnel's "aggressive" pricing policy and the loss of Sea France but that they hoped to push ahead with privatisation. He then noted that £25 million was to be spent on the Eastern Docks, bringing them up to standard for the new larger ferries. Bob went on to explain the restructuring of the board with a greater emphasis on 'Business Managers'. Plans for the Port of Dover Community trust were going well.
Bob Holmes gave a presentation on the pension fund, noting that the fund now stood at £139 million.
Roger Mountford gave the closing remarks. He paid tribute to the board of trustees of the pension fund for their sterling work. On privatisation, Roger said that DHB had welcomed the new criteria and stated that the Community Trust had been an essential part of their submission since it was first compiled in 2008 and their submission in 2010. He was happy to see the community would be having an 'enduring' influence in port operations.
Bob Goldfield presented awards for "Meritorious Service" to:-
Alan Birch for talking down a would-be suicide,
Lesley Jamul for her work in support of the Young Peoples Initiative.
And to Tim Godden & Nathalie (no last name given) for their work preparing the DHB side of the Section 31 challenge.
Anita Wilson then presented awards to those staff who had passed academic courses.
Question Time.
Tim Raymond (boat owner) asked why there was no draught petrol provision in the marina.
Answer. There was no demand but they would speak to the provider.
Bill Fawcus (retired DHB board) asked if there was and approximate time for T2.
Answer. As required but improvement work on the Union Street had gone through the design stage.
Vic Matcham (no introduction needed) recounted his recent visit to the cruise terminal during which he noticed unsecured cabling and a ramshackle reception area for passengers, including wooden benches. He questioned this and the poor security on getting into the terminal.
Answer. DHB stated that this had been a one-off event and admitted that they had been caught "on the hop". They would look into the cabling and question security.
Mrs Parsons (resident) asked about the state of Cambridge Terrace.
Answer. A review was being done on the properties there and the financial feasibility of improvements would be looked into.
Christian Fay asked about seafront concessions and facilities for them.
Answer. DHB would seriously look at any proposals or offers for these.
Terry Sutton (Freeman of Dover) asked if the pension fund had considered investing in DHB, "as they are doing so well".
Answer. No.
Mrs Parsons asked how much was being done to reduce the pollution from ferries.
Answer. There is no chance of them changing fuel but the new vessels coming into service were less polluting than the older vessels.
Politics, it seems to me, for years, or all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong.
Richard Armour
Quite a quiet meeting, I didn't see any ferry company reps present this year. I was there, but it wasn't that attention grabbing. DHB working hard to put positive spin on a generally poor set of results in which the one really bright spot was the performance of the pension fund.