Poole Quay marina could create up to 300 jobs

Pointing out the attractions of proposals to extend the boat haven, Jim Stewart, chief executive of Poole Harbour Commissioners told the annual open evening that it would also safeguard 750 jobs associated with the port.

He said the final version of the port master plan, which contains five projects including the preferred option of the marine centre on the quay rather than the controversial Hamworthy proposal, was expected to be issued before Christmas.

“It is a living document. Something that will be revisited and updated on a regular basis,” he said. An environmental assessment is being prepared, a document which is likely to run to more than 1,000 pages and would need careful study: “Before we take any decisions about any projects we want to move forward with,” he said.

He spoke of how the ports business had changed over the years with the decline in ferry traffic and how important it was for them to diversify.

In 1998 passenger numbers were 805,000, had dropped to 674,000 in 2004 and 228,000 in 2012.

In 1998 the port saw 105,000 lorries go through the gates which fell to 20,000 in 2013.

Conventional cargoes included steel, feed crops, bricks and timber while exports from Poole included clay, sand and aggregates and feed.

His review of the past year included praise for the troubled Twin Sails Bridge. “We are delighted with the bridge. It has freed up traffic flows in and out of the port.”

And he included a warning about the effects of new sulphur regulations on fuel due to be introduced in 2015, about which he would be lobbying the shipping minister.

“Brittany Ferries has indicated this will increase their fuel bill by 60 per cent and a 30 per cent increase in their running costs. This is a major worry going forward.”