The geography of the UK is composed of numerous islands, including the northern one-sixth of the island of Ireland, between the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea northwest of France. Therefore, the UK is home to numerous ports. The Felixstowe Port is the UK’s busiest container port in the Suffolk Coastal district on England’s eastern shores. Felixstowe Port is England’s closest port to Rotterdam and the Netherlands’ Europort. Felixstowe Port can accommodate the world’s latest deep-draft post-Panamax container vessels. Other post-Panamax ports in the UK include Southampton along the English Channel, Thamesport on the North Sea which is just 56 kilometers east of London, and Liverpool on the Irish Sea is undergoing planning/preparation for a post-Panamax port.
Other ports include the following:
Teesport, Middlesbrough, North Sea
Port of Tyne, Newcastle, North Sea
Barrow, Irish Sea
Port Talbot, Irish Sea
Milford Haven, Irish Sea
Invergordon, Moray Firth
Hunterston Terminal, Firth of Clyde
Hound point, Firth of Forth
These ports are primarily used for ferry/cruise transportation and commercial services. The United Kingdom Major Ports Group Limited (UKMPG) is a trade association that represents most of the larger commercial ports in the United Kingdom and has nine member who own and operate 41 ports and 2 terminals which account for over 70% of the tonnage handled in UK ports.
The railway system in Great Britain is the oldest in the world, as the world’s first locomotive-hauled public railway opened in 1825. Most of the railway track is managed by the Network Railway. The UK has 16,454 km of railways.
Passenger services in Great Britain are divided into regional franchises and run by private Train Operating Companies. There are 2,516 passenger railway stations on the Network Rail network. This does not include the London Underground and other systems not part of the national network. Most date from the Victorian era and many are located either in or on the edge of town and city centers.
There are four main freight operating companies in the UK, the largest of which is DB Schenker (formerly the English, Welsh and Scottish Railway (EWS)). The amount of freight moved in 2010‐11 was 19.23 billion net ton kilometers, a 1.0 % increase from 2009‐10. The total amount of freight moved increased by 14.0% in 2010‐11 Q4 compared to 2009‐10 Q4, with 5.34 billion net ton kilometers moved compared to 4.69 billion net ton kilometers moved in 2009‐10 Q4.
Last year for the first time, consumer rail freight traffic was greater than coal traffic; Despite the recent economic downturn, rail freight volumes grew by 2% between 2006-2011, and over the same period, consumer rail freight grew by 29%, exceeding previous forecasts its eighth consecutive year of growth.There is significant suppressed demand for rail freight with forecasts predicting that rail freight overall will have doubled by 2030 with consumer rail freight growing 7.6% per annum during this period. More than £1.5 billion private investment in locomotives, wagons, facilities and systems has taken place since 1995.
The UK has paved roadways totaling 394,428 km, 3,519 km of which are expressways. In the UK, drivers are charged are toll for most expressways and highways, in addition to selected bridges and tunnels. UK roads are split into two main categories, trunk roads and non-trunk roads. Trunk roads are nationally important routes, which are maintained by the national highway authority of each country. All other public roads are maintained by local authorities. Nearly all public roads have been surfaced since the early part of the 20th century, and the country has a good coverage of divided highways and freeways, built from the 1950s onwards. New-build roads are subject to very high design standards, but the quantity of them has been held back by funding, and more recently, a lack of political will. Older roads are generally well maintained and surfaced, but are rarely widened or re-aligned and often their courses have been unchanged for centuries.
The following are a list of international airports in the UK:
Aberdeen, Scotland. ABZ
Belfast City, Northern Ireland. BHD
Belfast International, Northern Ireland. BFS
Birmingham, England. BHX
Bristol, England. FZO
Cardiff, Wales. CWL
Exeter, England. EXT
East Midlands, England. EMA
Edinburgh, Scotland. EDI
Glasgow, Scotland. GLA
Leeds Bradford, England. LBA
Liverpool, England. LPL
London City, England. LCY
London Gatwick, England. LGW
London Heathrow, England. HRW
London Luton, England. LTN
London Stanstead, England. STN
Manchester, England. MAN
Newcastle, England. NCL
Norwich, England. NWI
Prestwick, Scotland. PIK
Other airports are either private or used for military purposes. As of 2010, the are 505 airports in the UK, which ranks the UK as number 14 in country comparison to the world. Out of the 505 airports, 306 of them are paved.
Sources:
No comments:
Post a Comment