Medway Ports
51°26′48″N 0°44′40″E / 51.4468°N 0.7444°E
Medway Ports, incorporating the Port of Sheerness and Chatham Docks[1] is part of Peel Ports, the second largest port group in the United Kingdom. The Ports authority is also responsible for the harbour, pilotage and conservancy matters for 27.3 nautical miles (50.6 km) of the River Medway, from the Medway Buoy to Allington Lock at Maidstone, and the Swale.
Medway Port Authority was created in October 1969 to bring together a number of independent companies took over the running of the Sheerness site for commercial use, once the Royal Navy had vacated in 1960.[2] Chatham Dockyard closed in 1984 with the site being divided into three sections with Medway Ports Authority taking control of one section as Chatham Docks.[3]
Medway Ports Authority was privatised, as Medway Ports, through a £37 million management buyout in 1992,[4] before being sold again in 1993 to Mersey Docks and Harbour Company for £104 million, just 18 months later.[5]
On 22 September 2005, the MDHC was acquired by Peel Ports, part of the property and transport group Peel Group.
Regeneration
Part of the Chatham Docks site is being regenerated as "Chatham Waters", a mixed-use development scheme promoted by Peel.[6]
References
- ^ Medway Ports website
- ^ Ogilvie, Alan (1994). Inside Olau: the life and death of a ferry company; Sheerness - Vlissingen 1974-1994. Ferry Publications. ISBN 1871947235. OCLC 832558109.
- ^ "Chatham Dockyard: Lasting impact three decades on". BBC. 31 March 2014. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
- ^ Murray, John (21 August 1993). "Mersey may buy Medway: Possible ports sale sparks row over privatisation". The Independent. Retrieved 2 January 2026.
- ^ Murray, John (21 December 1993). "Trust ports stuck in a dry dock: John Murray explains why the Government is stalling over its plans for privatisation". The Independent. Retrieved 2 January 2026.
- ^ Info at the BBC website