As the European ports industry will gather in Rotterdam for the European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO) Annual Conference, from 31 May to 1 June, the British Ports Association (BPO) called the UK Government to make sure that public transport and infrastructure funding are increased after Brexit to keep UK freight operators and ports competitive.
As the discussions for Brexit continue there is still no clear picture if the UK will have investment in the transport network as a priority or if it will replicate EU funding models. BPO wants UK policymakers to push for pro-investment transport strategies in a similar way to the TEN-T programme or even to copy schemes such as the Motorways of the Sea programme and the European Maritime Fisheries Fund.
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Speaking just before the ESPO Conference, BPO’s Chief Executive stated:
The UK ports industry is a competitive sector. What our ports look for is an efficient planning system and a good national transport network. UK policymakers should not overlook TEN-T and indeed examine ways to increase investments in our transport network. It is essential for logistics operators that the UK has an efficient transport and freight network and that our ports are able to compete globally.
Just last month, the Ljubljana Declaration was presented to the European Budget Commissioner Günther Oettinger, by the MFF4Transport coalition at the TEN-T Days event and a recent study for ESPO has highlighted the infrastructure needs of EU ports.
This was before the European Commission published its Multiannual Financial Framework for the 2021-2027 period which is expected to be the first EU budgetary term without the UK.
Mr. Ballantyne added:
In the coming years, it is likely that the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility will be used to target the hinterland network connectivity challenges for many European ports and it will be important that the UK is not left behind. There has rightly been much attention on the potential impacts of new border controls on some UK-EU routes but other factors such as long-term post-Brexit transport plans and infrastructure investment should not be ignored.
UK Department for Transport’s recent Port Connectivity Study highlighted that ports are often not factored into transport and Government decisions, Mr Ballantyne said.
He continued by saying that “ports are vital international gateways and they will have an important role facilitating our new post-Brexit trade strategy so it is essential that they are well connected to national networks and markets.”
