The ports, which in the past enabled industries that were highly polluting, are now a service enabler for some of the most pioneering work to reduce our environmental impact and create green jobs for the future.

“For some years now, ABP in the Humber have been getting our own house in order on environmental matters,” said Simon Bird, director of ABP Humber and chairman, Humber FreePort.

”We have created the two largest roof-mounted solar power facilities in the UK in the ports of Immingham and Hull and we are in the process of a major installation of EV charging points for cars across the port estate. New cranes and mobile plant are at the cutting edge of efficiency and low emissions.”

Green epicentre

The Humber is also an epicentre of offshore wind activity. The Siemens Gamesa wind blade manufacturing facility in Green Port Hull has gone from strength to strength since opening its doors in 2017 and is currently going through a major expansion.

This expansion is to accommodate the larger blades that are needed as the industry increases in scale all the time.

Meanwhile, across the water in the Port of Grimsby, companies like Orsted and RWE have made the port home for operations and maintenance of offshore windfarms. All of this work has brought in new and skilled jobs to the area.

Mr Bird pointed out that a number of other port customers are involved in exciting projects to lead the way in decarbonisation.

A good example of this is Zero Carbon Humber. The project is a partnership of many of ABP’s customers in the Humber, including British Steel, Drax, Equinor, PX Group, Centrica and Uniper, who have come together with a shared vision to transform the Humber into the UK’s first net zero carbon cluster by 2040, ten years earlier than the UK Government’s published goal.

The project will develop a shared trans-regional pipeline out to the North Sea for low carbon hydrogen and for capturing and storing carbon emissions.

Source: GreenPort