Our ability to welcome the largest container vessels in the world continues to pay dividends, with our turnover increasing by 14% year-on-year to £54.9 million (2024: £48 million). This increase is attributable to the addition of several new services welcomed to the Haven, including MSC, Cosco, Evergreen ONE, HMM & Yang Ming which has contributed to a 4% rise in vessel arrivals, supported further by a favourable mix of vessel sizes.
This increased revenue has been accompanied by a rise in profits, with our before tax figure increasing by 59% to £7.9 million (2024: £5 million). This has been driven by the increased revenue partially offset by a pension fund charge and an increase in maintenance dredging costs.
Maintenance dredging costs remain a challenge being around £10 million per year higher than prior to the completion of channel deepening in 2023. We generated a surplus of £3.3m on our Infrastructure Surcharge Revenues and these monies were used to help cover the additional dredging costs.
We also continue to hold strong cash reserves to support our long-term goals and investments, standing at £42.0 million in 2025 – up from £30.8 million the previous year.
In terms of investments, we have continued to make great strides in new technologies and modernisation. This includes continued investments in our Capella digital twin project in partnership with Entopy, as well as our research and development into dredging technology – something which we hope will further reduce the cost of maintenance dredging. In total, we made capital investments totalling £1.6 million in 2025 (2024: £2.6 million).
Pensions
During 2025 the Pension Trustees of the defined benefit pension scheme undertook a Pension Buy-In which transferred the scheme assets to an insurer. The insurer retains responsibility for funding the insured pension scheme liabilities as they fall due; the administration responsibilities continue to remain with the trustee.
A result of this transaction was in a charge of £2.9m to the income statement which is the difference of the premium paid to the insurer and the corresponding value of the FRS 102 pension obligations.
The Authority Board subsequently approved a pension buy-out whereby the Pension Fund would be wound-up, and the members receive a new but identical pension commitment from Royal London. The buy-out completely de-risks the Pension Fund for the Authority.
Outlook
The overall outlook for the Authority remains positive as we have a strong balance sheet and cash reserves, and an excellent value proposition which we continually look to enhance.
The Authority has an unrivalled sea access into the UK for container vessels, whereby the Port of Felixstowe can accept the largest and deepest container vessels in the world on every tide.
However, we are heavily impacted by the geopolitical issues that affect the container shipping markets globally and changes in the shipping alliances that have taken place recently. We closely monitor developments surrounding the geopolitical environment, particularly its potential impacts on inflation, demand and shipping routes.
Nevertheless, we continue to work with our customers and stakeholders to ensure we can support their plans for growth and increase the value we can provide.
