ABP announces new Humber leader

(Posted on 16/08/24)

Associated British Ports (ABP), the UK’s largest and leading ports operator, is delighted to announce 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. Andrew will be part of the Executive team and will report directly to Henrik L. Pedersen, ABP’s CEO.

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. 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.

Andrew Dawes, Regional Director, Humber Designate, 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.”

Welcoming Andrew to the role Henrik L. Pedersen, Chief Executive Officer of ABP, 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.”

Andrew will join ABP on 1st October 2024, allowing a thorough period of handover with the outgoing Regional Director, Simon Bird, who will be stepping down from the role at the end of the month.

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 £80bn+ of trade, generating £6.6bn+ of value added for the UK economy and supporting 90k+ jobs in the broader Humber and Yorkshire region. The Port of Immingham alone is the UK’s largest single port by tonnage handled, more than 50mt in 2023.

ABP Humber is also a central player in the region’s growing role as a green energy leader, already involved with offshore wind (both manufacturing and operations) and with a pipeline of major projects for green hydrogen and carbon capture and storage, such as the Immingham Green Energy Terminal.

The Humber port estates and other ABP land holdings provide a wide variety of logistics, storage and value addition development offerings. For example 182 ha at Humber International Enterprise Park – one of the largest development sites in Europe – and our latest acquisition, the 200+ acre Stallingborough Interchange site. Several locations bring Freeport benefits.