Leisure boaters priced off the water
The company that runs the Port of Southampton has been accused of ‘pricing people out of the water’ by more than tripling charges for some recreational sailors.
Associated British Ports (ABP) is introducing the price hikes ‘without consultation’.
Invoices seen by the Daily Echo show a private owner with a boat from 8.1m to 12m in length faces a rise in their mooring licence from £225 last year to £675 in 2022. Above 15m, the rise is from £517 to £1,551. Sailing clubs were invoiced for rises of 12% on top of inflation earlier this year. The rise has been delayed pending meetings in May, but some expect charges to rise in line with those for private owners within two to three years. John Bigg, who has a 27ft trimaran at Ower Lake, Calshot, contacted PBO as his mooring licence will go up from £225 to £675. He said: “I won’t be keeping this mooring if the price goes up. A letter arrived and that was it. This is how much your fees are. Without any consultation.”
Retired admiral, Lord Alan West of Spithead told PBO: “These price hikes are unwarranted but even worse is the failure to consult before making changes.”
Associated British Ports said: “We kept mooring fees as low as possible for as long as we could, but after a number of years of increasing costs and little change to mooring fees, we have had to update our charges to go some way to mitigate the increased costs we have experienced. We delayed January’s increase until April and have also set up a quarterly payment plan. “We recognise that boat owners have a choice over where they wish to berth their vessels, and we have taken care to ensure the new rates remain very competitive with other local providers of these services. We are also investing significantly in the effective management and security of our river moorings, including the removal of vessels using moorings illegally, and in May we will undertake a substantial part of our programme to clear abandoned and other wrecked vessels from the Itchen, improving the landscape for all.”