Felixstowe Rail Traffic At A High

The Port of Felixstowe said last week its rail division had handled more than 200,000 containers in a single year for the first time. Felixstowe, the UKs largest container port, said its total rail-borne container trade rose by 16 per cent to the end of November 1997, compared with the same period a year earlier. The east coast port said that discounting trans-shipment cargoes between ocean and feeder shipping services, 20 per cent of its container throughput is now received or sent overland by rail. Felixstowes parent, Hutchison Ports (Europe), said earlier it had agreed to buy the Thamesport container facility on the south side of the Thames estuary from Rutland Trust Plc for £112 million pounds. Hutchison Ports is a subsidiary of Hong Kongs Hutchison Whampoa