One of the largest ports in Cumbria is making “encouraging” progress in tough trading conditions with profits expected to hit almost £300,000.

The county council-owned Port of Workington has reported an operating revenue of £1.4m in a nine-month period between April and December against a target of £1.3m.

This means the organisation has generated more cash through its business activities than expected, leaving it with a surplus.

The update on the financial position and performance was presented by Port manager Jeremy Lihou at a meeting of the top tier authority’s harbour board.

He said: “We are pretty much bang on budget in relation to our revenue-generating requirements which is encouraging.

“Trade has tailed off slightly in the last couple of months, but we are still hopeful that we will attain the target by the time we reach the year end of March 31.”

The Port is also on target with its operating expenditure over the same period, with a spend of £1.1m against a target of £1.2m.

The meeting heard that healthy trading was among the factors behind the profits, with the business expected to shift up to 360,000 tonnes of cargo, a big increase on last year.

But the Port also had some help from an unexpected source – the Cumbrian weather.

Mr Lihou said: “Dredging costs are not going to be as high as we budgeted for in this financial year.

“The weather patterns that we have seen over the last three or four months means that we won’t be needing to dredge until April/May time.

“We are going out to tender for that and that will mean and increase in profits in this financial year because we have deferred dredging into the next financial year. That’s all down to an act of God.”

The meeting, held yesterday, also heard that the Port is on target when it comes to debt recovery, sales targets, and health and safety training.

Meanwhile, staff sickness levels came in lower than expected, with the Port reporting an average of six days lost to ill-health per employee against a target of eight days.

Bosses at the transport hub are also considering putting out a new prospectus focusing on the Government’s ambition to divert as much possible traffic from road and rail routes.

The Port of Workington is wholly owned and operated by Cumbria County Council, which is the Statutory Harbour Authority, and is an independent Municipal Port established in 1975.