Harwich4Containers?

[Burtoboy]

Hi. Why did Felixstowe get chosen by Hutchison/Government instead of Harwich?

By 1990 Harwich had excellent road connections north and south. More importantly, its railway was double track right up to its north and southwards connection near Manningtree.

Still more vitally important; all these lines were electrified to 25kv right into Harwich. Felixstowe did not have this virtue, and still doesn't! Obviously, electric locos could haul freight all the way from Harwich to Scotland and much quicker than underpowered diesel locomotives.

This shortening of journey times means that one driver can work from Ipswich to Crewe being there replaced by a driver who could work onwards to Glasgow.

Both can thereby keep inside their allotted five hour driving limit. This cannot be done with diesel.

I know, it is probably too late now. But what argument worked against Harwich all those years go, and environmental one?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Containerisation. The Port of Felixstowe has the ability and space to accommodate much larger container ships than Harwich can.

 

[Gloster]

Two points come to mind. Felixstowe had much more room for expansion with much less need to infill. The depth of water meant that Harwich couldn’t handle as large ships as Felixstowe, particularly in relation to manoeuvring.

 

[Magdalia]

Why did Felixstowe get chosen by Hutchison/Government instead of Harwich?

Felixstowe was not chosen by the government or Hutchison, the current owner.

Felixstowe was chosen by Trinity College Cambridge which bought the land in the 1930s.

Until the 1960s it was a small port, in particular too small to be covered by the National Dock Labour Scheme.

Felixstowe was the UK's first purpose built container port, opening in 1967. It had a purpose built rail link for container traffic, which was opened in 1970, and expanded rapidly through the 1970s as containerisation revolutionised seaborne goods traffic.

Basically Felixstowe was a commercial operation that reaped the advantages that containerisation provided.

 

[6Gman]

Felixstowe was not chosen by the government or Hutchison, the current owner.

Felixstowe was chosen by Trinity College Cambridge which bought the land in the 1930s.

Until the 1960s it was a small port, in particular too small to be covered by the National Dock Labour Scheme.

Felixstowe was the UK's first purpose built container port, opening in 1967. It had a purpose built rail link for container traffic, which was opened in 1970, and expanded rapidly through the 1970s as containerisation revolutionised seaborne goods traffic.

Basically Felixstowe was a commercial operation that reaped the advantages that containerisation provided.

Wasn't that a particularly important consideration as it restricted the ability of the trades unions to insist on particular working practices?


(This is not an anti-union comment, just a statement of what I understand to have been relevant.)

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

Yes, the absence of the Dock Labour Scheme meant it was an attractive option to set up a whole new way of working with containerisation. It also succesfully lobied for major improvements to the A14. Things are starting to go full circle, however, for several operators have recently or are about to switch to London Gateway. Felixstowe is tricky to berth in and space is at a premium.

 

[Shaw S Hunter]

The OP needs to have a look at the historical timelines here. Electrification didn't reach Harwich until 1986 by which time Felixstowe was well established as a major container port. And in any case there is not (and likely never will be) enough capacity to send all Felixstowe freight services via London. As such diesel operation via Bury and Ely will continue to be necessary. At least this route was improved by the opening of the Bacon Factory curve outside of Ipswich in 2014.

 

[Magdalia]

It also succesfully lobied for major improvements to the A14.

The main government support for Felixstowe was investment in the road network. I can remember the Huntingdon, Cambridge, Newmarket, Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket bypasses being built in the 1970s (not built in that order).

Before the Cambridge Northern bypass articulated lorries going to/from Felixstowe crawled through Cambridge via Newmarket Road, Elizabeth Way, Chesterton Road, Victoria Road and Huntingdon Road. The Elizabeth Bridge only opened in 1971, before that was even worse. The OP is from Cambridge so could visit these places to imagine what it was like.

The road wasn't called the A14 then, it was the A45, and the priority route at the Girton interchange was the continuation of the A45 towards St Neots, not the A604 to Huntingdon. It took nearly half a century to mitigate the consequences of that for westbound traffic.

The Orwell Bridge and the A1-M1 link between Brampton Hut and Catthorpe came later.