Re: Settle Carlisle upgrade

Tony Polson wrote:

I'm not sure I have answered the question, as I don't know where the
ships are coming from and what size they are. The SRA's "strategic
review" of coal importation identified the need to invest in the route
to Immingham but not in the route to Hunterston, at least not the
route that included the Settle-Carlisle line.

If the ships are very large bulk carriers, Hunterston is the only
place to go, but I so think that berth occupancy at Immingham may be a
factor, which is why the Humber International Terminal is being
doubled in size. At present the coal ships share facilities with
other cargoes, but the new berth will be only for coal.

Sounds like the berth size & occupancy is the determining factor,
although Immingham also already has a lot of coal & ore traffic to deal
with (to the Corus works at Scunthorpe) - adding further bulk coal
flows for the East Midlands power stations could potentially be too
much for the port to handle (and there'd be capacity issues on the rail
routes toward Barnetby and beyond - reopening the old MS&L route to
Gainsborough during the week would help). Hunterston on the other hand
is purely a bulk coal terminal that doesn't handle anything else, so
presumably the capacity is there to handle the traffic.

.