13 January 2016

Shoreham Port now owns a fleet of brand new bikes for the use of staff to get around the Port as an alternative to using vehicles. This will help to reduce CO2 levels and save on fuel. This is another innovative project by the Port as part of its strategy to tackle climate change and reduce its impact on the environment.

Issuing the bikes has been made possible due to a grant from Brighton & Hove Travel Plan Partnership. The bikes have been built by South Coast Bikes, a tenant of Shoreham Port, and have recycled frames and specially selected parts to cope with the coastal conditions.

Peter Davies, Development Director at Shoreham Port commented “Shoreham is designated as an Eco-Port and is developing new ideas all the time not only on better travel choices, but also on being more energy efficient and reducing waste. We were delighted to receive the funding for the bikes and South Coast Bikes have done a fantastic job creating the bikes with our branding. They are really easy to ride and I’m sure they will be extremely popular with our staff.”

Paul Topham, owner of South Coast Bikes commented “We were really excited to be approached by the Port who were looking to provide bikes for their staff to use for short journeys. After 12 years servicing the good people of Brighton & Hove's bikes, we like to think we've learnt a thing or two about how best to combat the local forces of nature (saltwater in particular). Using this knowledge we designed the bikes with longevity, reliability and ease of use as the guiding principles. Choosing components throughout for their quality and ability to stand up the Port’s environment.”

Many staff already cycle into work and the Port has several bike shelters available to use. The new bikes will be based in the shelters for any member of staff to use when they need to visit another part of the Port or exercise at lunch time. There are many journeys made by staff in vehicles each day that are only short trips but using a bike instead of a car will significantly reduce the number of vehicle miles undertaken over the year.

Paul Johnson, Director of Compliance at Shoreham Port added “Receiving the new bikes was really exciting, they look brilliant and I am confident that they will withstand the elements thanks to South Coast Bikes expertise. If the bikes are a success we hope to order more in the future to add to our current fleet of five.”