Meeting with Mike Penning MP and Minister for Ports and Shipping

DOVER Harbour Board is expected to have to make "significant" changes to its controversial privatisation plans following crunch talks with opposition members and government officials.

Key players arguing on both sides of the sell-off plans came face to face at the Department for Transport in London last Thursday.

The two-hour negotiations were arranged with transport minister Mike Penning in a bid to thrash out a deal and find common ground all parties could move forward with.

Principal objectors including representatives from P&O Ferries, DFDS and the People's Port Trust sat down with DHB's Roger Mountford and Bob Goldfield for the talks.

Dover District Council leader Paul Watkins and town clerk Allison Burton were also in attendance.

People's Port chairman Neil Wiggins said he felt the meeting had been a success.

He told the Express: "From our point of view I think it went quite well. The minister was left in no doubt about the level of mistrust and low confidence the people of Dover have in the harbour board.

"The point of the talks was for DHB to collect alternative views and incorporate them in a new privatisation plan.

"We will see how much the board members took on when the revised plans come out.

"We anticipate some significant changes."

No date has been announced for when DHB will submit its new proposals for the sale of the trust port, but the Express understands that officials from the Department for Transport are keen to sort out the future of the port before July, when civil servants will become tied up with the logistics of the Olympics.

Last week's crunch talks were originally due to be held on December 8 but were cancelled at the last minute due to "urgent Parliamentary business" which Mr Penning was required to attend to.

The DfT is keen to find a solution by which a buyer can be found for the port while keeping the ferry companies – which are angered at harbour fee rises and perceived DHB intransigence – on board.

The Government is also looking to satisfy local desire for there to be an element of community involvement in the future of the port.

(Article from Dover Express 19/01/12)

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DPPT Supportive of Ferry Companies in public inquiry

16th September 2011

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Fight between the Dover Harbour Board and the Ferry Companies could have been avoided says the Dover People's Port Trust

The Dover People's Port Trust (DPPT) notes with regret the ongoing hearings into alleged unfair tariff increases which have been brought by the ferry companies against the Dover Harbour Board (DHB).

They appear to reflect a serious breakdown in the relationship between DHB and its principal customers which DPPT believes

- operates against the long term interests of the port and its development as a business,

- reflects a fundamental failure by DHB to operate in the interests of its stakeholders, and

- is only likely to be exacerbated if the proposals currently being advanced by DHB to privatise the Port are accepted by the Department for Transportation (DfT).

The DPPT notes that this breakdown in the relationship between the port and its principal customers could never occur under the proposal it has currently made to the DfT.

This involves a structure designed to provide certainty, transparency and accountability over fixing the tariffs levied for the use of the port, following consultation with both management, employees, users and all other interested parties.

It is achieved through the appointment of a suitably qualified independent regulator, charged with setting tariffs, performance targets and investment programmes for each 5 year period after appropriate consultation and the investigation of industry comparables. This incorporates a structure specifically designed to settle any disagreements between the management and their customers in an efficient and accountable fashion.

DPPT can entirely understand the frustration and anger of the ferry companies who agreed one off tariff increases some years ago to help fund the development of a new ferry terminal, only to find that the extra cash generated, would not be used for this purpose. Instead, they were informed that the funds required would be raised via DHB seeking a possible sale and raising the funds through the capital markets

Since DHB's plan to seek a sale of the port has been announced and despite spending huge sums of public money to generate support, it has been vigorously opposed by almost all major stakeholders and rejected outright by the people of Dover Town.

This is all against a backdrop of declining traffic numbers and vessel calls whilst DHB has increased tariffs at above inflation rates, to the detriment of their major users.

Mr Neil Wiggins, Chairman of the Dover People's Port Trust, commented: "We are becoming increasingly frustrated by the actions taken by the management of Dover Harbour Board. In our opinion, the Port of Dover should serve the needs of its customers and the current dispute with the ferry companies is to the detriment of the Port's commercial operations and the community as a whole. DHB is rather focussing on selling itself off, which will not serve the needs of its major customers or the people of Dover. It is time that DHB and other opinion formers put their backing behind the DPPT's proposal to put the ownership of the Port firmly in the hands of the community. In so doing, this will serve the interests of all stakeholders including the ferry companies."

Ends

For further information, please contact:

Neil Wiggins, Chairman of the Dover People's Port Trust

Tel: 00 44 (0) 7920 100740

Simon Robinson, Farm Street Communications

Tel: 00 44 (0) 7593 340107

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Government Statement

The Secretary of State for Transport (Philip Hammond): On 3 August 2011, I announced the criteria that the Government will consider particularly relevant to the appropriateness of the sale of a major trust port in England or Wales under the Ports Act 1991. This followed the consultation that I announced on 16 May 2011 and which closed on 27 June. I regret that it was not possible to announce this first by Written Ministerial Statement to the House, but I did not wish to delay consideration of the application by Dover Harbour Board for a transfer scheme.

I am aware that Dover Harbour Board has now considered the criteria, intends to proceed with its application for a transfer scheme under the Ports Act 1991, and proposes to submit a new set of documents containing a further elaboration of its scheme for decision by the Minister of State under the new criteria. If interested parties would find it useful and seek my department's assistance, we would be happy to consider ways in which properly to facilitate discussions on all the options before the Dover Harbour Board submits its elaborated proposal. I should make it clear that the decision minister would take no part in such discussions and would continue to perform her statutory functions in an objective, impartial manner whatever the outcome of any such discussions.

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DPPT Suggests New Legislation may be required to fulfill Government's Intentions in Dover

People's Bid for The Port of Dover suggests new Government legislation may be required

The Dover People's Port Trust ("DPPTL") yesterday submitted a detailed response to the Secretary of State for Transport's request in respect of the proposed revised criteria regarding the sale of Trust Ports in the UK.

DPPTL consulted widely with the communities of Dover, both with individuals and with a variety of private businesses and local government organisations, before drawing up this response.

DPPTL welcomes the Secretary of State for Transport's desire to make community participation and benefit a key criterion in approving the privatisation of major Trust Ports.

DPPTL considers that the existing legislation – The Ports Act 1991 (the "Act") is ill suited for this purpose, and that the proposed criteria are too imprecise to ensure that the intentions behind them are put fully into effect.

The Port of Dover (the "Port") is the leading ferry port in Europe and one of the busiest in the world and is the prime gateway into and from the UK for both roll-on/roll-off ferry traffic and for sea-born tourist traffic. In 2010, traffic was 13.5 million passengers, 2.3 million cars and 2.1 million freight vehicles. Consequently, the Port is an infrastructure asset of enormous strategic and commercial importance to the UK.

DPPTL believes that it is completely inappropriate that the entire sale process for a strategic national asset of this importance should be in the hands of the local board/management – in the case of Dover, the Dover Harbour Board ("DHB") – as is currently the case under the Act, particularly when the senior management of DHB are almost certain to have an economic interest in the outcome and thus be grossly conflicted.

The United Kingdom is highly unusual in permitting full private sector ownership of port authorities. Nearly all port authorities worldwide are in public ownership (either State or Municipal). Or, alternatively (in the case of the UK and some former colonies such as India), they are Trust Ports which embrace a wider stakeholder / community agenda.

DPPTL is confident that its proposals for the Port of Dover meet both the wording and the intention behind the revised criteria. However, given the structure of the Act it questions the ability of the Secretary of State to ensure that the aspirations set out in these criteria are fulfilled during the sales process.

DPPTL's particular concerns relate to the requirement for the board of the Trust Port – in the case of Dover, DHB, to:

(a) draw up the criteria and recommend the process of sale;

(b) act as the sole arbiter on the community interest and how it might be recognised, subject only to veto or direction by the Secretary of State;

(c) have control over the process of sale, when management is likely to have a financial interest in the outcome; and

(d) dispose of an essential service asset, which may have a tendency to monopoly pricing without any form of price control

Given DHB's hostile response to DPPTL's proposals, DPPTL is concerned that it will be difficult if not impossible for any privatisation committee of DHB to view DPPTL's proposals impartially and be able to demonstrate to the public at large that it has done so.

DPPTL has made a number of suggestions in its response to the Secretary of State on ways in which the drafting of the criteria can be made more specific, and the process of sale more accommodating, so as to satisfy the national and community interest.

However, DPPTL believes that the Government should urgently consider whether its aspiration to foster community involvement and benefit in Trust ports generally, and Dover in particular, can be addressed under existing legislation or whether new legislation is necessary.

DPPTL and the Port of Dover

DPPTL is an industrial and provident society established and registered in 2010 by a wide range of community interests to purchase the Port. DPPTL has been registered with charitable status by HMRC.

These community interests had become concerned by the proposal made by the DHB in January 2010 for the privatisation of the Port, through a sale to third party investors who did not necessarily have any direct commitment to either the local or national economy.

DPPTL and the broader community were unconvinced by the claims of the DHB, at the time of announcement of its proposals in January 2010, that the prime driver for seeking privatisation was the need to borrow in order to proceed with the T2 ferry terminal development at Dover's Western Docks (T2). In this respect DPPTL notes that:

(i) the sales process imposes no commitment on the buyer to proceed with the T2 development;

(ii) by DHB's own admission, significantly reduced traffic growth means that T2 will now not be required until at least 2020.

DPPTL was also concerned that the proposal represented poor value for money for the users and the local community, both of whom stood to gain little from the process either in terms of involvement in the key decisions relating to the ownership and development of the asset, or in terms of direct economic benefit.

Despite a number of attempts by DPPTL to engage with DHB to discuss its concerns, DHB has declined to engage in meaningful discussions with DPPTL, and indeed has been openly hostile, mainly through its Chief Executive, in denigrating DPPTL's proposals

DPPTL believes that DHB's belated recent attempt to demonstrate a community focus through a concerted PR campaign to promote its proposal to establish the Port of Dover Community Trust (PDCT) is substantially inferior in terms of community involvement and benefit to that inherent in DPPTL's proposals.

DPPTL's proposals involve the immediate injection of £50 million for the regeneration of Dover with a share of future profits. DHB proposes injecting into PDCT £10 million in cash, with an additional £1 million per annum over five years as a non-dividend cash endowment, and £20 million in shares in the Port. It is unclear whether these shares have any real value (being an illiquid minority holding with no certainty of any future dividend income), nor whether the "ongoing" community interest in them can be protected in the long term if the future majority owner of the business decided to sell it on.

DHB's frequent repetition of the claim that the "financial impact" of PDCT on Dover will be £95m in the first five years and £60m per annum thereafter (subsequently revised down to £7.8m p.a.!!) is hard to comprehend and harder to verify under the laws of simple arithmetic. It is apparently arrived at by adding in "likely match funding and multiplier effects" but has been interpreted by many casual observers (including the BBC) to mean that DHB would be investing £100million in the community. In reality, DHB would be investing some £15m over five years whereas DPPTL would be investing £50m immediately and a share in Port "profits" in perpetuity.

Finally, DPPTL believes that, as a Trust Port, the Port of Dover has a number of features that impose unique constraints on any change in ownership, namely it:

(i) occupies a major, strategic, long term role in the transportation infrastructure of the United Kingdom, accounting for trade between the UK and Europe amounting to £80 billion in value each year;

(ii) has considerable short and medium term pricing power because of its clear and pronounced competitive advantage on certain types of traffic, which arise from both its geographic location and the efficient domestic transport links that have been constructed to service it – using public money;

(iii) has a group of customers (the ferry companies) that have invested heavily in ships that are impractical to redeploy on other routes – so they are to a large degree "captive";

(iv) accounts for a substantial part of the land mass in Dover, so that it is a key player in any proposed programme of regeneration;

(v) is located in an area which has suffered from decades of serious deprivation, and

(v) will have an unusually pronounced impact on the well-being of the local community from any decision that it makes, because of the constraints imposed by the local geography.

Accordingly, and at its own expense, DPPTL has engaged a team of professional advisors to help it develop a structure which is designed to ensure that:

(i) the freehold of the Port remains inalienably within community ownership;

(ii) the three activities associated with the Port are split out and operated separately, through the following corporate entities:

DPPTL, as the vehicle for community interest, interacting with and contributing to the well being of the community;PortCo, as an efficient port operator; and RegenCo, as the agent for regeneration in the town of Dover and the surrounding area; the long term commitment of users to the Port;investment in the long term development and operation of the Port so that it can "contribute to reliable and efficient transport networks"; and "access to capital to meet" both the purchase price and "future investment needs" in a stable and predictable manner.

each activity is governed through an appropriate board and management structure which seeks to ensure that each can be managed alongside the others in a sensitive, accountable and intelligent fashion according to high standards of corporate governance;

in each case, DPPTL, PortCo and RegenCo are not capable of being "captured" by any interest group; and

in the case of PortCo, a regulatory framework is developed for the operation of the Port, including the appointment of an independent quasi-regulator, to ensure:

In a local referendum conducted on 23 March 2011 there was overwhelming support for a mutualisation proposal sponsored by the local community in Dover, as proposed by DPPTL. Additionally, a wide range of community organisations have backed DPPTL's proposals.

DPPTL is in the process of launching a recruitment campaign to sign up members of the local community as members of DPPTL in order to further demonstrate the broad and representative support it enjoys in the Dover community.

For further information, please contact:

Neil Wiggins

Dover People's Port Trust

M: 07920 100740

Simon Robinson

Farm Street Communications

M: 07593 340107

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Global Institute of Logistics Visit Dover

Saturday 04th December 2010, Dover

Communitisation – A new paradigm for port governance and ownership

At a meeting on Saturday 4th December attended by the CEO of the Global Institute of Logistics, Mr. Kieran Ring, the Chief Operations Officer of the Global Institute of Logistics, Mr. Tim Mawhood, Michael Deegan, CEO and Coordinator of Infrastructure Australia, CEO of Dover Chamber of Commerce, Mr. David Foley, MP for Dover and Deal, Mr. Charlie Elphicke, Deputy Mayor of Dover, Mr. David Hannent, members of the Dover People's Port Trust board, Mr. Neil Wiggins and Mr. Bob Markham, local businessman Mr. Alan Shirley and Dover Town Clerk Mr. Mike Webb, the ideas and concepts that have been put together to form the thinking behind the People's Port bid were discussed and analysed and comparisons drawn with and to international best practice and how the People's Port has engaged and implemented these within its bid for the Port of Dover.

The organisational structure, ethos, aims and objectives of the People's Port bid are at the cutting edge of international thinking with regards to port governance and ownership, demonstrating clear joined up thinking and incorporating global best practice with regard to the port – city relationship. It is clear that the current relationship between Dover Harbour Board and its town is not in this league and equally clear from the aims and objectives of DPPT that under their ownership the relationship between the port and the Town will be propelled into this league. It is just plain good business sense to develop and cultivate an honest, open and cooperative relationship between port and town.

After the meeting Michael Deegan the CEO and Coordinator of Infrastructure Australia said "having arrived in Dover through the Port last night it is clear that it is a tired asset that has lacked investment and there is an urgent need for a change in management. The Peoples Port initiative is a very exciting one that embraces the Community and creates a collective responsibility that will ensure that the Port gets the attention it so badly needs. Dover by taking this path can through the Port create an engine for the regeneration and development of the whole Town which of course will benefit everyone in the Community. I will follow the Peoples Port bid closely and wish them every success."

With support from the port's users, local community groups, local business leaders, the MP for Dover and Deal, port workers and other interested persons, the People's Port Bid represents the views and interests of the majority of the port's stakeholders as defined by the 1991 Act. The People's Port Trust has built a robust financial model based on figures published by the Harbour Board that has generated support from major financial institutions, subject to due diligence, which will be able to deliver the investment that the port needs, predictable and transparent tariff setting for the port's users and the regeneration and renewal that Dover has been starved of for far too long within a framework of international best practice, innovative thinking and the practical application of the principles of the Big Society.

Kieran Ring, CEO of the Global Institute of Logistics, said "The Global Institute of Logistics continues to watch developments at Dover with great interest. The more we learn about the Peoples Port of Dover's bid the more convinced we are of its merits.

Global thought leadership on modern port management emphasises the need to embrace the complete stakeholder group in the development and operation of the port, the Dover concept is the most comprehensive in this regard in that through its unique public/private approach to ownership and management it embraces all the stakeholders in a meaningful and committed way.

The concept democratises port generated prosperity and puts everybody to work behind a common goal which in turn provides enormous opportunity in the areas of labour flexibility and logistics orchestration.

The Institute will continue to provide feedback from the International community on the People's Port and has offered to assemble a panel of experts in the town to formally debate the idea and contribute to the development of the master plan."

As part of this thinking and as a statement of intent indicating the future direction and nature of the Port-Town relationship in the event that the People's Port Bid is successful, the Global Institute of Logistics, in cooperation with the People's Port Trust, has offered the Town access to a number of independent international thought leaders in the areas of maritime logistics, ports and harbours development and planning, urban regeneration and master planning. This access will take the form of a moderated seminar to involve the Town Council and members of the public in interactive master planning sessions with a working title "If I owned the Port of Dover I would....."

Neil Wiggins, chairman of the Dover People's Port Trust said, "A seminar along these lines would be an incredibly powerful tool to inform and energize the town and its community leaders. Active participation by communities in the ownership and management of major enterprises based in their locality is what the Big Society is all about and it is important that such active participation takes place on the basis of the best information available. Whilst information and best practice are international by nature, ownership of the ideas and concepts can be taken at a local level. Just as the Port of Dover is of International significance and it is incredibly important for it to think globally, it is vitally important to the town and communities of Dover that it is retained in ownership by its stakeholders to ensure that it becomes an engine for growth and regeneration and acts locally"

Dover People's Port Trust "Acting local, Thinking Global".

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Offer delivered to the Prime Minister

This morning, the People's Port offer was delivered to the Prime Minister. Pictured left to right is Sir Patrick Sheehy, our president, Neil Wiggins, Chair, local MP Charlie Elphicke and director Algy Cluff.

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People's port bid launched

Today the People's Port bid was launched by Dame Vera Lynn. In addition to Dame Vera's brilliant speech, there were speeches from Local Government leaders, ferry company representatives, local MP Charlie Elphicke, Philip Blond of Res Publica, the Big Society think tank and our President Sir Patrick Sheehy.

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