Power in an emergency for Britain’s largest Port Group
Meeting the regular energy demands at ports is a huge challenge but emergency power requirements add a new layer of logistics – especially when the cargo is frozen food.
Part of Associated British Ports, Immingham is Britain’s largest port, handling 55 million tonnes of cargo each year. Last month, when extreme weather including gale force winds forced a Scandinavian cargo ship to divert from its Lowestoft destination, the port authority redirected the ship to the closest port, Immingham.
With the port’s electrical supply at full capacity, it was evident there would not be sufficient spare power to supply and maintain the critical temperature required for the ship’s frozen cargo. When Immingham’s suppliers could not provide the necessary equipment within the very short timeframe required, they called on Newburn Power who, as leading suppliers of emergency back-up power, have on-call sales managers able to take this request on a Friday evening and immediately confirm equipment supply, delivery and installation at the port.
From their Yorkshire depot, Newburn’s service manager set the inhouse team to preparing, testing and loading all the equipment needed to respond to the urgent request. Loaded onto Hiab vehicles and with all the RAMS documentation sent to Immingham to ensure adherence to the port’s strict Health & Safety policies, the ‘plug & play’ nature of the equipment specified by Newburn’s team meant that within an hour of arriving onsite all the freezer units were fully connected, maintaining the critical temperature required to ensure no costly loss of cargo.
Mark Henstock, managing director at Newburn Power, comments,
“On the Saturday morning, we received a lengthy email from our customer, passing on the port’s huge thanks for the prompt action of our team, which was very gratifying. Temporary – and planned – power supplies are well within our remit but it’s when there’s an emergency requirement that the dedication and expertise of all our team at Newburn really come into their own.”