The developer of a proposed huge new rail freight terminal using Green Belt land at Radlett in Hertfordshire, UK, is celebrating a victory following a High Court decision to overturn the government’s denial of planning permission.
The ruling means that the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government will have to reconsider his decision made in July last year.
HelioSlough’s proposed Strategic Rail Freight Interchange (SRFI) had been opposed by campaigners arguing that the terminal would erode the Green Belt and increase the level of noise and traffic in the area.
The developer wants to build the 350,000sq metre depot on the former Radlett Airfield.
A spokesman said: “The SRFI is important for sustainable economic growth – some £250 million (US$402m) will be invested by the private sector in this development, with some 3,000 jobs being generated over the long term.
“It will also generate significant carbon savings by switching freight onto the railways that would otherwise have been moved by road.”
It added: “In the light of this ruling, we now await to hear from the secretary of state what his next steps will be and we will be engaging fully in that process.”
The Secretary of State has until 11 July to challenge the court ruling.
Philippa Edmunds, Freight on Rail’s Manager, said, “Without road and rail transfer points in the right locations, long-distance road freight cannot be removed from our congested road network.
“The planning inspector recommended granting planning permission for this strategic interchange, so we urge the secretary of state to support this application, which ticks all the right boxes in terms of location, stimulation of the green economy and green jobs.”
She added: “Not only is this decision crucial for relieving road congestion around Greater London, it is a key test for wider strategic planning versus localism in the new planning regime.
“The country needs the Localism Bill and the forthcoming National Planning Policy Framework and National Policy Statements to support strategic planning, and, in particular, rail freight terminals of varying sizes in order to reduce road congestion and tackle climate change.”
For more information on this, or any other Rail, Road Sea or Air shipments, please contact our expert team at Mercator Cargo on 02392 75 65 75
Freight rates in the Far East/Europe trade have been falling for the past 6 months or so and are currently 40-50% lower than November 2010. Carriers have tried to increase freight rates in 2011, but the hikes have failed to stick. This is bad news for shipping lines as they enter peak season, traditionally the time of year when demand for shipping space is high resulting in firmer freight rates. The causes are weaker than expected demand linked with new, bigger vessels entering service.
For more information on this, or any other international shipping, freight forwarding, import, export and international trade requirements call our freight forwarding experts on 02392 75 6575
The Port of Liverpool (Mersey) has recently taken delivery of a new harbour crane which is due to begin operating at the Port of Liverpool later this month. This makes Liverpool an increasingly viable option for freight forwarding in and out of the UK via the port or down the Manchester Ship Canal.
The installation of the additional lifting machinery marks the start of a planned expansion at the port over 2011, demonstrating a commitment to investment and growth in the port. This is great news to freight forwarders looking to use the Port of Liverpool and the Manchester Ship Canal for freight forwarding services in the future. The use of the port for the import and export of ocean container freight is becoming an increasingly viable option. Liverpool is ranked as one of Britain’s major container ports and handles around 700,000 containers each year.
For more information on the above developments and the potential the Port of Liverpool will start to offer importers and exporters over the coming years please contact freight forwarder Mercator Cargo Systems today on 02392 75 65 75 to speak to an experience members of our team.
A bell from a picturesque miniature Chinese Temple in Portsmouth’s Victoria Park has been recently returned to China by Mercator Cargo Systems. The traditional style temple built commemorates the Far East commission of HMS Orlando (1899-1902).
The bell was taken from China during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. The bell was captured at the North-West Fort of Taku, which guarded the mouth of the river to Beijing.
After it’s capture the bell was hung in Portsmouth by the crew of HMS Orlando in honour of their fallen shipmates, lost during the campaign.
In a letter to the Evening News in 1993 it was suggested that it was an inappropriate artefact for a Naval Memorial and that it should be returned to the temple which it came from.
On the 13th June 2005, The News reported that a Chinese delegation had arrived in Portsmouth to take possession of the bell. A replica bell was donated by the Chinese authorities and placed in the memorial in 2007.
Mercator Cargo Systems, a freight forwarding company in Portsmouth was instructed to arrange for the safe shipment of the antique bell from the UK to China by the Chinese delegation.
Mercator Cargo is an established freight forwarder in the UK. Founded over twenty years ago, it is a long standing member of the British International Freight Association. The company offers reliable and cost effective international sea, road, air and rail freight forwarding services to and from the UK.
The companies dedicated team of freight forwarders have extensive experience in all aspects of freight transport, customs clearance and international shipping. The (company’s website) showcases its range of freight forwarding services.
Published in Portsmouth News Mon Feb 09
See the full article here.
A 2,600-year-old work of art is to be brought back to life with the aid of a Portsmouth firm. Iraq, devastated by war, is gradually beginning to rebuild its industries, and one of its core traditional crafts is making some of the world’s finest rugs and carpets.
Now, thanks to a delivery of finest sheep’s wool to Baghdad from across the border in eastern Turkey by Portsmouth shipping specialist Mercator Cargo Systems, work is under way on reviving this ancient craft.
The Iraqi labourers have begun a project to produce replicas of the Pazyryk Rug, the world’s oldest surviving carpet, believed to have been made in Mesopotamia in around 600BC and now preserved in a museum in St Petersburg.
Previously, the factory had been reduced to making tacky designs from poor quality fibre mixed with nylon, many of which ended up in Saddam Hussein’s tasteless palaces.
But a top-grade Kurdish sheep’s wool has now been sourced capable of doing justice to the millennia-old Pazyryk, and with its history of carpet expertise Mercator Cargo was chosen to deliver the raw materials – and may get the chance to deliver the finished articles to the West.
Paul Goehlert, managing director of Mercator, based at St George’s Square, Portsmouth, said: ‘The Pazyryk was found in Siberia. It was frozen and they actually managed to work out, don’t ask me how, that it was made in Mesopotamia. And when they gave the Baghdad factory a project, they thought they’d do a copy of it.
‘All the skills were there, all the workers were there, the loops were there, but they just had rubbish wool, so the products they were making weren’t very clever.’
The operation is headquartered in the Kadhimiya district of the capital, and employs around 750 staff.
It is run by 60-year-old English businessman Richard Ringrose, under contract from the US Department of Defence.
He has worked with Mercator for many years, and although Mr Goehlert said the project would have got off the ground even without Mercator’s help, it was especially gratifying to be involved – for sentimental reasons.
‘I started, aged 10 or 11, running around the City of London as a messenger boy during the holidays. One of the warehouses I went to one day was full of all these Oriental rugs, and I’ve just been gobsmacked by them ever since,’ Mr Goehlert said.
‘Every business has their own particular language. Ours is carpets. We’re probably about the only shipping company in the UK where you could say “40,000 sq ft of Tientsin full cut”, and I’d actually know what that would look like as a cargo.’
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