Ports and Freeports Development Conference; Sponsored by Womble Bond Dickinson

UK Major Ports Group – Tim Morris, Chief Executive

As Chief Executive of UKMPG Tim represents 9 of the UK’s top 10 port operators which handle 75% of our port volumes through 40 ports and collectively invest around £500 million per year in the UK’s ports and related infrastructure. He will provide an overview on how the sector is investing to increase capacity, build resilience and play an ever growing role in the UK’s push to move towards net-zero and contribute to biodiversity net gain.

Port of London Authority – Nadine Collins-Smith, Head of Thames Vision Delivery

More information to follow.

Associated British Ports – Ben Hodgkin, Project Development Lead

One of many projects in the pipeline for ABP is the Humber Freeport with its potential economic benefits should be felt across the whole of Humber and East Riding. Handling 17 per cent of the nation’s trade, the Humber ports play a pivotal role as strategic assets, supplying 10 per cent of the nation’s energy, a quarter of the nation’s fuel, almost a third of the national timber supply. This opportunity will act as a catalyst to accelerate growth across the region, with the potential to create 7,000 new jobs for the Humber. Ben will expand on this the other projects ABP have in the pipeline.

Greater Lincolnshire LEP – Halina Davies, LEP Programme Manager for Freeports

More than 7000 jobs and £600m worth of investment is on the way to the Humber thanks to the successful Freeport bid that was helmed by Halina and her team. As part of this event, she will be talking about kick starting the development of the 45km zone and what the first steps will be in relation to built environment activity at the dawn of mass economic growth for the towns and cities encompassing their Freeport zone.

PD Ports – Jerry Hopkinson, Chief Operating Officer

PD Ports are about to lead the Tees Valley into the future. Plans are afoot to create 38,000 jobs with a regeneration centric growth strategy titled the “Future Teesport Vision”. With 5000 acres of development land set to be brought forward, the exciting announcement of Freeport status and the fact their estate is part of the wider Teesworks project, Jerry joins the event to talk about PD’s plans in detail.

Port of Cromarty Firth – Joanne Allday, Senior Executive

The £100m investment in infrastructure over the past decade has left the Port of Cromarty Firth perfectly placed to grab a share of billions of pounds worth of renewable energy work capable of generating and sustaining thousands of jobs over the coming years. Joanne will reveal more intel on the port’s ambitions to become a ‘free trade zone’ which will create a sustainable 50-year pipeline of multi-billion pound renewable energy projects including four current projects – a green hydrogen hub, an advanced steel manufacturing hub at Nigg, a serial manufacturing facilities for offshore wind at Invergordon and also an advanced research and development centre and education facility.

Plymouth City Council – Richard May, Head of Oceansgate and Marine Investment

Plymouth has been named as one of the country’s eight new tax-break freeports and stands to benefit from a £100million investment and jobs boom. Around 10,000 new jobs will be created as well as support some the UK’s key sectors such as transport, infrastructure, clean energy and, in particular manufacturing as Plymouth has the highest concentration of manufacturing businesses in any city south of Birmingham. As one of the leaders of the Freeport bid from Plymouth Council Richard will be well placed to discuss how the Freeport status will make Plymouth a hub for global trade and investment, promote regeneration, boost employment and create hotbeds for innovation and new technologies to support a clean and sustainable economy.

Aberdeen Harbour Board – Michelle Handforth, Chief Executive

A £350m South Harbour Expansion coupled with the recently announced £27m Energy Transition Zone with Aberdeen Harbour at its heart, its an exciting time for the port. Michelle joins the event to update delegates on scheme progress and talk about the future of the site.

British Ports Association – Richard Ballantyne, Chief Executive

Richard is Chief Executive of the British Ports Association is a national membership body for ports which represents the interests of operators, that handle 86% of all UK port traffic, to Westminster and devolved Governments and other national and international bodies. Richard sits on the European Sea Ports Organisation’s Executive Committee, the Maritime UK Board and is also a Director of Port Skills and Safety. He will provide an industry wide overview of the challenges and opportunities facing the sector.

Network Rail – Paula Haustead, Head of Strategic Planning

More information to follow.

National Highways – Simon Emery, Senior Economic Development & Spatial Planning Manager

National Highways are delivering £15 billion of investment on our road network across the UK with significant work scheduled for Greater Manchester to alleviate congestion. This includes the Trans-Pennine upgrade which includes increasing capacity on the A61 and A628 as well as upgrades to the M60 and M62. National Highways also have £128m worth of repairs in the pipeline across the Northwest and Simon will be on hand to discuss these plans as well as future schemes to help boost economic activity.

BDB Pitmans – Susan Macpherson, Consultant/Solicitor

Sue is a consultant solicitor in BDB Pitmans’ Southampton office and has over 30 years’ experience working as a commercial real estate lawyer and specialises in marinas, ports and  regeneration work. For 16 years she worked as in-house legal counsel in marina businesses.

Portsmouth International Port – Ian Palacio, Development Manager

Ian Palacio is Portsmouth International Port’s business development manager. With many years of experience within the maritime industry, Ian has been working with customers old and new at the Port to drive new business, across both ferry and cruise. He also works closely with the commercial team at Portico, Portsmouth’s international cargo terminal to assist with the continued diversification of cargoes that they handle.

Drone Major Group – Robert Garbett, Founder and Chief Executive

Drone Major Group are one the UK’s foremost organisations with expertise in using drones in the freight and logistics sectors having collaborated with clients such as the Peel Ports and assisted the Liverpool City Region with their freeport bid. Robert will give a thought leadership perspective on the enormous impact drones are set to have in the freight and logistics industries which will be one of the key sectors that will benefit most substantially from the ‘drone revolution’ and how drones can help connect ports and freeports to the wider UK PLC.

BDB Pitmans – David Mundy, Partner

David is a parliamentary agent authorised to promote private bills in Parliament. He specialises in consents required for transport infrastructure schemes including hybrid bills and orders under the Transport and Works Act. He also advises on the promotion of Orders under the Harbours Act 1964 authorising port development. He advises on constitutional and EU law issues including the European (Withdrawal) Act 2018 and the EU Withdrawal Agreement Act 2020.  David will be speaking on the topic of Freeports and associated legal issues including the need for and authorisation of infrastructure and associated planning issues.

Built Environment Networking – Amanda Griffiths, Director

Amanda is one of the Co-Founder’s of Built Environment Networking – formed almost 10 years ago.

She’ll be hosting throughout the day, running the days proceedings and managing the interaction between our delegates and the speakers.

Shoreham Port – Tim Hague, Director of Property and Infrastructure

Leading the way in the sector’s green revolution by adopting sustainability technology and measures within their three new commercial buildings, Tim joins the event to talk about Shoreham Port’s next tranche of development plans which will follow similar principles. Following on from a challenging 2020, he will provide an update on their development strategy which runs up until 2024 and includes the Masterplan vision for the next 20 years.

Womble Bond Dickinson – Peter Snaith, Partner

Peter is a partner in the Commercial Team at Womble Bond Dickinson. He is head of the Teesside practice and also national head of the Manufacturing sector team. He has over 25 years’ experience of supporting industrial clients on Teesside with their local, national and international operations, having previously worked as in-house legal counsel for ICI and INEOS. He has been closely involved with developments around Freeports. With his wealth of experience in advising ports and also customers of transport and logistics companies on their infrastructure projects and operational activities he is keen to put Teesside on the map as a leading destination for inward investors. Peter is also a non-executive director of the North East Process Industries Cluster (NEPIC).

ATKINS – Richard Gutsell, Client Director Ports and Borders

Richard is a Client Director and a Ports and Borders specialist with a breadth of experience across Government and Commercial sectors. Richard has worked with business and Government teams on the Freeport initiative, collaborating on strategy, bidding and plans to maximise the benefits of the opportunity. With 20 years experience working with Ports and Borders clients delivering security and efficiency within an increasingly convergent digital and physical world, he is passionate about enabling seamless trade and travel whilst improving security and resilience.

Built Environment Networking – Fahmida Nisa, Host & Event Manager

Nisa is a research, marketing and content specialist at Built Environment Networking. She will be hosting a number of the sessions throughout the day, running the day’s proceedings and managing the interaction between our virtual delegates and the speakers.

Womble Bond Dickinson – Malcolm Dowden, Legal Director

Malcom is an experienced lawyer, and also an internationally accredited legal training provider focusing on commercial law and technology, with particular expertise in data protection and privacy (including international transfers of data under GDPR and UK GDPR), blockchain, distributed ledger and the “internet of things”. In 2019 he co-wrote a chapter for the American Bar Association book on Artificial Intelligence and Smart Machines.

Within the UK he regularly deals with an deliver workshops and webinars on commercial contracts, including “smart”, “connected” and “data-driven” contracts.

In 2018 and 2019 he worked with Thomson Reuters to design and present a series of Legal Business Masterclass sessions on blockchain and smart contracts, contractual negotiation and risk management.

Mott MacDonald – Jillis Raadschelders, Account Leader – New Energy Europe

Over 25 years of experience in international Energy Transition related advisory and feasibility projects. Has been involved in technology assessments, Business case evaluation, Strategy development, Market Entry strategies, Innovation methodologies and governance. Strong experience in empathic people management in international organisations. Highly experienced in system integration of renewables and hydrogen, mobility and industrial decarbonisation. Able to generate insights cross technology, market and regulations.

Conrad Energy – Mark Kelly, Head of Power Solutions

Climate change is the biggest challenge of our time so the energy landscape is rapidly evolving. The UK’s power network requires smart solutions to keep the lights on. That’s where Conrad Energy comes in. Mark will be involved in one of the event breakout sessions to detail how organisations can utilise new and upcoming energy solutions and innovations.