Associated British Ports (ABP), the UK’s largest ports operator, announced the appointment of Andrew Dawes to the position of Regional Director, Humber, to succeed Simon Bird when he leaves ABP at the end of October.

Dawes will be part of the ABP executive team and will report directly to CEO Henrik Pedersen.

ABP operates four ports on the Humber estuary – Immingham, Grimsby, Hull and Goole – and is the Statutory Harbour Authority for the whole estuary.

The Humber is the UK’s biggest gateway for trade by volume, handling more than £80 billion of trade, generating £6.6 billion of value added for the UK economy and supporting 90,000 jobs in the broader Humber and Yorkshire region.

The Port of Immingham alone is the UK’s largest single port by tonnage handled, with ambitious growth plans such as the Immingham Eastern RoRo Terminal.

“Andrew began work at the Southampton Container Terminal and has progressed his career to become a seasoned maritime executive, amassing almost 30 years of experience from the global ports and terminals industry with companies such as DP World, APM Terminals and ICTSI,” said ABP.

“Alongside his strong leadership credentials, he brings with him a wealth of experience in safety, operations and commercial activities. His experience also includes Managing Director roles with P&L accountability for terminals plus wider regional portfolio responsibility.”

Dawes said: “This is an incredible time to be joining ABP as the next 5-year business strategy is launched. I am delighted to be joining the Humber Region which has some really exciting projects and growth opportunities. The Humber plays a key role in delivering ABP’s twin missions of Keeping Britain Trading as well as Enabling the Energy Transition here in the UK.

“I am very much looking forward to meeting and working with my Humber colleagues, customers and wider stakeholders and to bringing my family to live in this fantastic region.”

CEO Pedersen said: “We’re delighted that someone with Andrew’s breadth and depth of port sector experience has chosen to join us.

“ABP’s four Humber ports collectively provide the UK’s largest gateway for trade with the world and are the corner stone of the Humber area’s potential as the UK’s preeminent ‘super cluster’ for the energy transition and industrial decarbonisation.

“Continuing to grow our Humber activities and delivering major infrastructure projects will be key to ABP achieving its twin missions of Keeping Britain Trading and Enabling the Energy Transition, building on the strong foundations laid down by Simon Bird during his tenure as Regional Director.”