Suffolk Coastal Port Health Authority

What Suffolk Coastal Port Health Authority does

Suffolk Coastal Port Health Authority (SCPHA) is a UK statutory public health and border authority headquartered in Felixstowe, established in 1899. It is constituted as a non-profit body and employs 51-100 staff. Its core function is to deliver import inspections, animal health controls, and ship sanitation services at the Port of Felixstowe, the United Kingdom's largest container port. These services are grounded in statutory public health and border regulation, giving the authority a designated role that importers and shipping operators must engage with as a condition of using the port.

The organisation's service portfolio spans three principal domains: (1) import inspections of food, feed, and goods entering the UK through Felixstowe, conducted under official controls legislation; (2) animal health controls, including checks on live animals and animal-origin products to prevent the introduction of disease; and (3) ship sanitation services, encompassing the issuance of Ship Sanitation Certificates under the WHO International Health Regulations. The underlying operating model is procedurally driven — based on inspector credentials, regulatory authority, and established enforcement protocols — rather than on proprietary technology or software platforms, as the available data contains no indication of a distinctive technology stack or productised offering.

SCPHA's revenue mechanics are consistent with a non-statutory commercial disclosure but functionally fee-based: charges are levied on importers, shipping lines, and logistics parties for official control services, with supplementary funding from local authorities. Customer concentration is geographically narrow (a single port location) but commercially diversified across the shipping and import base that uses Felixstowe. Additional specifics on pricing, contracts, headcount trends, and proprietary technology are not available in the provided source material, several of which returned loading pages rather than substantive content.

Name

Suffolk Coastal Port Health Authority

Website

https://porthealth.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1899

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Suffolk Coastal Port Health Authority is a UK statutory non-profit authority, founded in 1899 and based in Felixstowe, delivering import inspections, animal health controls, and ship sanitation services at the Port of Felixstowe for importers, shipping lines, and logistics operators.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Port Health Inspection Services

NAICS

Regulation, Licensing, and Inspection of Miscellaneous Commercial Sectors (926150), Regulation of Agricultural Marketing and Commodities (92614)

akta.pro primary industry

Regulatory Compliance, Licensing & Enforcement (Public Health) (HLAJAMAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Health Regulation, Licensing & Compliance (Public Health) (BPAIAJAN), Sanitary & Phytosanitary (SPS) & Food Safety Regulatory Cooperation (BPADANAF)

Keywords

• Port health inspections
• Import controls
• Animal health services
• Ship sanitation
• Border health authority

Headquarters

HQ city

Felixstowe

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations

Core offering

SCPHA is a public health and border authority operating at the Port of Felixstowe that delivers statutory import inspections, animal health controls, and ship sanitation services. It enforces public health controls on imported goods and vessels arriving at the port and issues the certifications required for international trade and maritime operations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Import Inspection Services
• Animal Health Controls
• Ship Sanitation Services

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Recent moves1 record

Expansion highlights1 record

Broad incumbents

• Food Standards Agency: UK national regulator setting the food safety, labelling, and import control standards that SCPHA enforces locally. Comparable because it defines the policy and compliance regime SCPHA applies, and funds or oversees port health enforcement work.
• Animal and Plant Health Agency: UK government agency responsible for animal and plant health policy, including border controls. Comparable to SCPHA's animal health control function at the border, though operating at national rather than port-specific level.

Direct peers

• London Port Health Authority: UK Port Health Authority discharging the same statutory import inspection, animal health, and ship sanitation functions at the Port of London. Directly comparable because it operates the same regulatory model under the same UK port health framework, just at a different geography.
• Hull Port Health Authority: UK Port Health Authority covering the Port of Hull with the same statutory functions as SCPHA. Comparable as a regional UK PHA serving a significant roll-on/roll-off and bulk import flow.
• Dover Port Health Authority: UK Port Health Authority providing import, food, and ship sanitation controls at the Port of Dover. Directly comparable on mandate, scope, and statutory basis, with the added similarity of operating at a major short-sea trade gateway.
• Southampton Port Health Authority: UK Port Health Authority at one of the country's largest deep-sea container and vehicle ports. Comparable on regulatory scope (food, animal health, ship sanitation) and on serving a high-volume import gateway.

Regional players

• Port of Rotterdam Authority: Operator and regulator of Europe's largest port, with its own port health and inspection services for imports, animal products, and ship sanitation. Comparable as a large international port with an in-house health-control function analogous to SCPHA's role at Felixstowe.
• Port of Hamburg Authority: Port authority for Hamburg, coordinating border, health, and customs-related services for a major European gateway. Comparable in acting as the institutional host environment for port health, customs, and ship inspection services at a high-volume seaport.

Others

• Hutchison Ports Felixstowe: Operator of the Port of Felixstowe, the principal customer and counterpart for SCPHA's port health services. Comparable not as a regulator but as the key enabling partner whose vessel calls, throughput volumes, and terminal operations drive SCPHA's workload.
• UK Border Force: UK agency responsible for border security and customs enforcement at ports. Comparable because it operates alongside SCPHA at the port boundary, sharing many of the same customers (shipping lines, importers) and overlapping compliance objectives.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/SCPHAuk
• Facebookfacebook.com/SCPHAuk
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/scpha

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Suffolk Coastal Port Health Authority