THEY are very fond of figures at Associated British Ports. A report out this week shows group turnover up to £213.7m, profits up to £74.3m, cruise ship calls up six per cent, and container handling up 16 per cent.

But ABP has been accused of failing to add up the sums in its plans to expand onto Dibden Bay, a 400-acre coastal wilderness on Southampton Water just upstream of Hythe.

The economics of building the new terminal - subject of a year-long public inquiry being held in Southampton - have been challenged in a major new study of the British Port industry.

According to business consultants WestLB Panmure, ABP would have to charge customers way over the global average per container to cover the price of their new port.

Estimated costs of building a 400-acre terminal at Dibden Bay vary from £600m to £750m, but WLBP say that, even if you take the cheapest estimate, the figures do not balance.

The report estimates that, to cover a development cost of £600m and a targeted return of 15 per cent, each container unit passing through Dibden Bay would have to make £39. Southampton Container Terminals at present earns £12.80 per container unit.

Report author Andy Murphy said: "Only when the new terminal is operating at full capacity with very low costs and maximum throughput is it likely to achieve the required return.

"But even if planning consent is granted, full utilisation would not be reached until after 2014, given the 11-year construction period."

Mr Murphy and co-author John Lawson argue that other potential sites for the UK's newest container terminal make more sense than Dibden Bay.

They place Shellhaven in the Thames estuary as top contender. Other rivals include Bathside Bay in Harwich, Thamesport on the River Medway and the Trinity extension at Felixstowe. Another possibility announced this week is the former iron ore port of Hunterston in Scotland.

"We are sceptical that the Dibden Bay project will ever see the light of day due to environmental issues and the availability of other brownfield container port sites," said Mr Murphy.

A spokesman for ABP said: "The issue of commercial viability has been examined at length at the public inquiry and it will be for the inspector to make a judgement in due course on this and all other matters under inspection."