Associated British Ports strikes property partnership deal with real estate giant JLL
Associated British Ports (ABP), the UK’s leading ports operator and one of the largest commercial landowners in the UK, has struck a tie-up with New-York listed real estate and investment giant Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) to help promote the former's diverse property portfolio.
ABP, which operates 21 ports, boasts a commercial land portfolio of 8,600 acres, over 2,400 acres of development land and a rent roll of £130 million.
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It recently acquired 227 acres of development land known as Stallingborough Interchange at the Port of Immingham. It also has over 120 acres of development land and more than 200,000 sq ft shed space currently available at the Port of Newport. There are also regeneration opportunities at its Marchwood Industrial Park in the Port of Southampton.
In short, ABP offers a broad range of commercial property and land opportunities, including industrial, warehousing, open storage and development land.
ABP CEO Henrik L. Pedersen said: "When businesses choose to locate on ABP’s port estate, they are choosing the future.
"Our ports are at the epicentre of building a greener tomorrow, providing businesses with access to multimodal distribution links, urban skills centres and the ability to plug into a vibrant community of like-minded industry partners, committed to clean growth, decarbonisation and energy generation."
Melinda Cross, head of industrial and logistics at JLL, added: "This partnership with ABP represents a significant opportunity to bring cutting-edge industrial and logistics spaces to the market.
"JLL's extensive network and understanding of occupier needs will help showcase ABP's diverse portfolio, which offers businesses resilient, future-proof locations and emerging clean energy hubs.
"This collaboration aligns with our commitment to driving sustainable growth and supporting the evolving needs of modern supply chains."
The competitive tender process to select a national property agent partner was led by a cross-regional expert team from ABP Property, including Robert Morton, lead asset manager on the Humber, Jeff Gibb, lead asset manager, WSSP and Tim Hook, lead asset manager in Southampton.
Earlier this year, ABP announced ambitious plans for the Port of Newport, including a focus on harnessing wind and solar sources, which will ultimately be linked to hydrogen electrolysis and e-fuels manufacturing plants.
The development will also be connected to low-carbon rail and marine logistics and hundreds of highly productive jobs are expected to be created at the resulting Newport clean growth hub.
ABP’s 21 ports across England, Scotland and Wales contribute £15 billion to the UK economy every year, directly employ over 2,500 people and support over 200,000 jobs across wider supply chains.