Flood defenses at Associated British Ports’ (ABP) Port of Immingham are due to receive an investment boost of around £5 million which will increase the port’s resilience to flooding in the future.
Immingham, which is the UK’s largest port by tonnage, was extensively flooded during the east coast tidal surge of December 2013, which caused widespread disruption to port users, tenants and key businesses.
Although the efforts of ABP’s engineers and the wider port community ensured that the recovery process was quick and straightforward, the incident nevertheless served as a timely reminder of the power of nature and its potentially destructive capabilities.
Since the surge, ABP have been working closely with North East Lincolnshire Council (NELC), the Lead Local Flood Authority and the Environment Agency (EA) on a permanent long term solution to reduce the risk of tidal flooding.
Whilst the port’s responsiveness to tidal surges and the individual resilience of specific key pieces of infrastructure has been improved in recent years, it became apparent that the only certain way of improving resilience to tidal flooding was to raise and improve flood defense infrastructure along the coastal frontage of the port.
The Environment Agency’s Senior Coastal Advisor, Mark Adams , said: “The EA is committed to improving flood resilience and preparedness across the nation, and this great result at Immingham serves to demonstrate that it is not just houses that need protection but that nationally significant infrastructure and industry have the same needs as well. We are delighted with the approved funding and look forward to continuing to work with ABP in to the future.”
The project team will continue to work together to develop further flood reduction processes that will ensure further resilience over the next few years, ABP said in its release.
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