by Graham Tutthill

The Port of Dover could be fully privatised, it has been revealed.

Dover Harbour Board has announced that it has made a formal application to the Transport Secretary for authority to restructure the organisation in order to introduce private capital.

It follows months of speculation and means that the port will move fully into the private sector and will no longer be a trust port.

In August the Department for Transport asked each trust port to consider what structure would be most appropriate for their continuing development and success.

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Dover was said to be the trust port most advanced in its analysis and planning, and now the board has confirmed that it has developed an ownership and governance option, whereby private capital could be introduced to the port.

At the same time it will set up a locally-based charitable trust to channel funds to local community projects over a longer term basis, something that is not possible with as a trust port.

"This will provide, for the first time in Dover’s history, the opportunity for the local community to have a direct stake in the port’s commercial success and to benefit directly from the sharing in that success," said chief executive Bob Goldfield.

"Such a change in its ownership will ensure that the necessary capital is secured for investment in the port to deliver new capacity as and when it is required. The port will also be free to pursue other commercial opportunities to grow, both in Dover and elsewhere."

Dover Harbour Board chairman Roger Mountford said: "Over recent years the port has grown and broadened its business and improved its efficiency. Like its customers, it has to maintain this momentum.

"To do this the port needs access to private capital and to benefit from new opportunities. At the same time, the board wants to respect the special status of a trust port in bringing forward plans that will ensure that the local community, of which the port forms a part, will share in the port’s continuing development and success.

"The application to restructure the port follows the Board’s recent submission to the government seeking permission to construct a new ferry terminal in the western docks, an investment likely to total some £400 million. The proposed restructuring would give the port access to private capital markets and thus the funding needed to build the new terminal."