'In my opinion, the business case made for EastPort has demonstrated the potential to deliver benefits sufficient to justify the public funding proposed, and in such circumstances I have concluded that transport considerations should not stand in the way of a favourable decision on this important project, ' said the Secretary of State, which means that it now falls to the Department of Trade and Industry, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the local authorities concerned to decide whether public funding should be made available.

Great Yarmouth Port Authority (GYPA) proposes to create an outer harbour (EastPort) just north of the river mouth, at an estimated total cost of £43.5m, to re-establish a passenger and cargo ferry link to Ijmuiden in the Netherlands; and increase the capacity of the existing port to handle larger general cargo vessels and support ships servicing oil, gas and wind farm operations in the North Sea.

The project was first authorised by the Great Yarmouth Outer Harbour Act 1986, and the East of England Development Agency (EEDA) has considered the project and would like to support the investment. If the project receives funding approval, the project would then be subject to a Harbour Revision Order (HRO) from Department for Transport, to modify the compulsory purchase and planning provisions of the 1986 Act which have expired (this is currently under consideration by the Department), and European Commission clearance on state aids issues.

Peter Hardy, Executive Director of East Port Great Yarmouth Ltd, told MJ that the Secretary of State's decision had 'freed the way' for DTI to authorise the actual grant offer by EEDA. 'Once we have the grant offer, back to the DfT to decide the HRO, which has been advertised and is unopposed, ' he explained. The public sector contribution is in the form of 'gap funding' sufficient to reduce investment risks and make the proposition attractive to the market. The next step after final consents will be to advertise the opportunity for a private port developer/operator to collaborate with EastPort to take the project through to financial close and construction.

EastPort has just completed a £100,000 project (with Haskoning UK and HR Wallingford) to finalise the preferred breakwater alignment, verify acceptable environmental impacts, wave penetration and sedimentation, and undertake successful navigation simulation tests.

EastPort's target is to advertise for a commercial partner this spring, select a partner by autumn, and work towards financial close and a start of construction potentially as early as Autumn 2006, with an estimated 18-21 month construction period, which would enable the port to start operations in 2008. Construction tendering arrangements will be fixed nearer the time in collaboration with the commercial partner, but it will be an EU-compliant tender - possibly design and build, based on the established breakwater layout.