The Marine Management Organisation has made the Ports of Fleetwood and Silloth (Transfer of Undertaking) Harbour Revision Order 2026, following an application by Associated British Ports. The instrument was made on 13 April 2026, laid before Parliament on 16 April 2026 and comes into force on 7 May 2026. The Order extends to England and Wales. The legal route is set out in the instrument itself. Under section 14 of the Harbours Act 1964, a harbour revision order can amend the constitution, powers or duties of a harbour authority. In this case, the Secretary of State's function as the appropriate Minister had already been delegated to the Marine Management Organisation under section 42A of the 1964 Act, so the MMO is the body making the Order.
The central effect of the Order is to replace Associated British Ports as the statutory harbour authority at two separate ports. On the transfer date, FJ Ports (Fleetwood) Ltd becomes the harbour authority for the Port of Fleetwood, while FJ Ports (Silloth) Ltd becomes the harbour authority for the Port of Silloth. That is not simply a corporate renaming exercise. Harbour authority status carries legal powers, regulatory duties and statutory responsibilities under local Acts and harbour legislation. The Order is therefore drafted to move the statutory undertaking itself, so that the successor companies can lawfully exercise those functions once the transfer takes effect.
One important point is that 7 May 2026 is the date the Order comes into force, but not necessarily the date the ports transfer. Article 3 allows Associated British Ports to set a later transfer date, subject to strict timing and notice rules. That transfer date must fall within six months of the 'start date'. The start date is defined by reference to the legal challenge period under section 44 of the Harbours Act 1964, or the final determination or withdrawal of any such challenge. ABP must then publish notice of the transfer date in a newspaper circulating in the Fleetwood area, a newspaper circulating in the Silloth area, and on the ABP websites named in the Order. It must also display notices at publicly accessible locations in both ports. The chosen date cannot be earlier than seven days after the last required publication.
For Fleetwood, articles 4 to 8 create a full legal continuity package. On the transfer date, all statutory and other powers and duties held by ABP under the Fleetwood Acts transfer to FJ Ports (Fleetwood) Ltd. The Fleetwood undertaking also transfers, including land, works, buildings, machinery, stores, other property, rights, powers, privileges, liabilities and obligations. The drafting is intended to avoid legal uncertainty. After transfer, references to ABP in local statutory provisions and other documents are to be read as references to FJ Ports Fleetwood where the transferred undertaking is concerned. Byelaws, regulations, licences and consents already in force continue as if they had been made or granted by the new company. Contracts and agreements remain binding, and any legal proceedings already under way can continue in the name of, or against, the successor harbour authority.
The same structure is applied to Silloth in articles 9 to 13. FJ Ports (Silloth) Ltd is established as the harbour authority in place of ABP, and the statutory powers and duties attached to the Silloth Acts transfer on the same transfer date. The Silloth undertaking, with its land, assets, rights and liabilities, also vests in the new company. Again, the policy purpose is continuity rather than reset. Existing byelaws, regulations, licences and consents remain in force. Contracts, deeds, sales, conveyances and agreements continue to bind the successor company. Legal proceedings connected with transferred property, rights or liabilities can also carry on without requiring separate legislative action for each individual matter.
The Order also preserves two established protections. Article 14 states that nothing in the instrument prejudices or derogates from the rights, duties or privileges of Trinity House. Article 15 protects Crown interests and makes clear that neither ABP nor the new FJ Ports companies may take, use, enter upon or interfere with Crown Estate land, government land or related rights without the necessary written consent. Those clauses are standard in harbour legislation, but they have practical force. They confirm that the transfer of harbour authority status does not displace navigation-related functions held elsewhere, and does not create authority to occupy or use Crown or departmental land merely because the statutory undertaking has moved to a different corporate body.
The Explanatory Note says no impact assessment was prepared because no, or no significant, impact was expected on businesses, charities, voluntary bodies or the public sector. That is consistent with the narrow scope of the instrument. It is chiefly a legal transfer mechanism rather than a wider reform of harbour policy at Fleetwood or Silloth. For port users, shipping agents, leaseholders and local counterparties, the practical position is straightforward. The regulatory framework is intended to continue with the same legal effect, but under different statutory harbour authorities. The date that matters is not only 7 May 2026, when the Order comes into force, but the later transfer date that ABP must publish in line with article 3. That notice process is the point at which statutory responsibility moves from ABP to the two FJ Ports companies.