The south bank of the Humber Estuary in England is a relatively unpopulated area containing large scale industrial development built from the 1950s onward, including national scale petroleum and chemical plants as well as gigawatt scale gas fired power stations.

Historically the south bank was undeveloped, and mostly unpopulated, excluding the medieval port of Grimsby and lesser havens at Barton upon Humber and Barrow upon Humber. Industrial activity increased from the 19th century onwards, primarily brick and tile works utilising the clay extracted from the banks of the Humber; this plus the addition of chalk extraction at the edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds formed the basis of cement industries. Grimsby expanded during the industrial 19th century, and Immingham Dock was established in 1911, and a large scale cement works established near South Ferriby in 1938. Most of the brick and tile works ceased operation in around the 1950s.

From the 1950s onwards a number of chemical plants were built between Immingham and Grimsby, and two major oil refineries built south of Immingham Dock in the 1960s. Growth and development of the oil and chemical industries took place through the 20th century with some contraction of chemical works occurring in the late 20th century.

At the end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st century a number of combined cycle gas turbine power stations were built (see also dash for gas), some of which utilised 'waste' steam to provide nearby petroleum and chemical plants with heat energy. During the same time frame a large area of former clay workings from earlier brick and tile activity was converted into water parks in the Barton area.

Grimsby – Immingham

Background

The port of Grimsby, was a significant local town and market in the medieval period, with fish being the predominant traded good. From around the 14th century the port's importance in international trade diminished, in part due to competition from Hull, Boston, as well as the Hanseatic League; whilst coastal trade and inland waterway trade became more important. In addition to fish a trade foodstuffs also took place, as well as coals from Newcastle and the export of peat dug in Yorkshire. Grimsby's population declined from around 1,400 in 1377 to around 750 by 1600 and to around 400 by the early 1700s. In the late 1700s a new dock was built at Grimsby, under the engineer John Rennie, opened 1800. In the 1840s the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway constructed a rail line to the town, and a new dock was constructed in the same period; the town redeveloped as a port, and its growth re-initiated. Several new docks constructed between 1850 and 1900 with a third fish dock added in 1934. Rail connections linked the port to South Yorkshire, Lancashire and the Midlands; the net tonnage handled by the port increased from 163,000 in the 1850s to 3,777,000 by 1911. The port was also a major fishing centre, landing around 20% of the total UK catch (1934). The town's population rose consistently from 1,500 in 1801, to 75,000 in 1901, and to 92,000 in 1931. Neighbouring Cleethorpes also developed as a residential area for Grimsby as well as a seaside resort during the 19th century. In the 20th century, port based industries formed the main economic activities, with fishing being particularly important, influencing other industries in the town, specifically food processing, in particular frozen foods. In the late 1960s around 3,500 were employed directly in the fishing industry; 10,000 were employed in food industries of which 6,000 was fish processing activities; 2,500 in shipbuilding and repair; other lesser employment activities included engineering, and timber related businesses. Most of Grimsby's industries were concentrated on the Dock's estate, and later Pyewipe, west of the main centre.

In 1911 Immingham Dock was opened, constructed for the Great Central Railway, primarily for the export of coal; the new dock was located at a point where the deep water channel of the Humber Estuary swung close to the south bank, with estuary side jetties that and could handle ships up to 30,000 deadweight tonnage. In the interwar period industry was developed on the north bank of the Humber in out of town locations: petroleum refining at Salt End (BP Saltend); smelting and cement manufacture at Melton (Capper Pass and the Humber Cement Works); and aircraft at Brough (Blackburn Aeroplane & Motor Company, later British Aerospace).

During the 1970s and early 1980s the fishing industry of Grimsby declined (to less than 15% of 1970 levels by tonnage by 1983) due to fuel costs (1973 fuel crisis), decline in fish stocks, Icelandic exclusion zones (see cod war), and new EEC fishing limits, though the port's market share remained roughly constant at around 20%, imported landings from Icelandic ships (as well as from ships of Norway, Faroes, Denmark, Belgium and Holland) became important to the continuation of Grimsby's role as a 'fish port'.

Industrialisation (1950–) After the end of the Second World War the Humber bank and area between Grimsby and Immingham began to be developed by capital intensive industries, main focused on petroleum and chemicals. In addition to access to a modern port (Immingham) the regional advantages were availability of large areas of undeveloped flat land at low cost, with the Humber allowing discharge or effluent. The area was earmarked as being suitable for 'special' industries, such as those dealing with hazardous products or processes. Several large conglomerates or their subsidiaries acquired land banks in the area, and began developing industrial sites.

Grimsby Corporation acquired of land between 1946 and 1953, who then improved the road and rail links,The rail line serving industrial plants along the Humber bank was adjacent to the route of the former Grimsby and Immingham Electric Railway and sought industrial developers. An additional was acquired by the corporation in Great Coates in 1960 and developed into a light industrial estate.Great Coates Industrial Estate, also known as Pyewipe industrial estate, or South Humberside Industrial estate. Developers included British Titan Products (1949, titanium dioxide pigment), Fisons (1950, phosphate fertilizer), CIBA Laboratories (1951, pharmaceuticals), Laporte Industries (1953, titanium dioxide pigment), Courtaulds (1957, viscose and acrylic fibres). By 1961 developments occupied around and employed over 4,000 persons. A limit to development was the fresh water supply available to industry. By the beginning of the 1960s the Fisons, Laporte, CIBA, Titan, and Courtaulds were consuming per day, all of which was acquired from the chalk aquifer, some from the companies' own boreholes; this combined with Grimsby's water demand gave a total requirement of around per day, which was considered close to what the aquifer could sustainably supply. As a consequence additional sources of supply were sought by the water board.

In the late 1960s two oil refineries were established near Immingham: (Total-Fina and Continental Oil) supplied from an estuary pier beyond Cleethorpes at Tetney.

Initially rail transport links were good, but road transport infrastructure very poor, essentially rural lanes. In the late 1960s the government identified the Humber region generally as suitable for large scale industrial development; subsequently development of the road networks on both banks was authorised (see M180 motorway, also M62), as well as the construction of the Humber Bridge.

A number of proposed or potential large scale developments in the latter part of the 20th century were not taken forward: The CEGB acquired a site near Killingholme in 1960, and obtained consent for a 4 GW oil fired power station in 1972; the project was abandoned after the 1973 oil crisis; in 1985 the Killingholme site was listed as a possible NIREX disposal site for low level nuclear waste; in 1986 the CEGB listed Killingholme as a potential site for a coal fired power station; A plan to reclaim land from the Humber at Pyewipe west of Grimsby using colliery waste was supported by Great Grimsby borough council as a potential source of new development land, interest in a reclamation scheme dated from at least the mid 1970s, and a report in the 1980s found the scheme feasible but expensive, the scheme was not supported by Humberside County Council who had sufficient development land elsewhere; Dow chemicals also acquired of land in the 1970s.

By 1987 9,000 were employed in the South Humber bank area (excluding Grimsby-Cleethorpes, and rural north Lincolnshire).

During the 1990s dash for gas several gas turbine powered power stations with heat recovery steam generators were built in the area, including several gigawatt class output units: National Power and Powergen built adjacent 665 and 900 MW combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power stations near North Killingholme in the early 1990s; Humber Power Ltd. built CCGT plant in two phases (1994–1999), with final power output 1.2 GW; and ConocoPhillips built a combined heat and power plant using Gas turbine/HRSG/auxiliary boilers in two phases (opened 2004, about 730 MW and 2009, about 480 MW), used to supply heat (steam) to both the Lindsey and Humber refineries.

The Humber Sea Terminal at North Killingholme Haven, is a modern RO-RO port terminal based on an estuary pier with minimum water depth; as of 2014 the terminal is operated by Simon Group Ltd a subsidiary of C.RO Ports SA. Six Ro-Ro terminals were developed in 2000 (1&2), 2003 (3&4) and 2007 (5&6).

Despite these developments the general character of the north Lincolnshire area in 1990 was agricultural, much of it large scale arable farming on high grade land, a pattern that is unchanged at the beginning of the 21st century.Ordnance Survey 2006 1:25000

Business Established History British Titan Products 1949 British Titan Products Co. Ltd. (BTP) established a plan for the production of Titanium dioxide from Ilmenite via a sulphur process to the north east of Great Coates (Pyewipe) on the Humber bank near Grimsby. Initial production was 20,000 t per year, increased to 100,000 t in the 1960s. The company was renamed BTP Tioxide . The plant became part of the Huntsman Corporation in 1999. Overcapacity and competition led to redundancies in the 2000s, and in 2009 the plant ceased operations. In 2013 the site was offered for sale for industrial use.

A 13+9 MW combined heat and power gas and steam turbine plant (established 2003, pdf ) owned by Npower remains on site. Fisons 1950 Fisons Fertilizers was built adjacent southeast of Immingham Dock, for the production of superphosphate and compound fertilizers (NPK). In the 1960s ICI entered into an arrangement with Fisons for the supply of ammonia to the company, and agreed to construct an ammonia plant to supply Fison's Immingham site. Fisons also began an expansion of phosphoric acid capacity at its Imminghame site in the same period. The ICI plant at Immingham had a production capacity of 200,000 t per year, and was operational by the end of the 1966. In December 1965 a boiler made of Ducol destined for the ammonia plant had exploded during pressure-testing at the manufacturers.

In 1982 Fisons sold its fertilizer business to Norsk Hydro. In the late 1980s Norsk Hydro built an ammonium nitrate fertilizer plant at Immingham. In 2000 the company announced it was to close the ammonium nitrate and nitric acid plant at Immingham, resulting in 150 redundancies and ending fertilizer manufacture at the site.