Tag: Brexit

As the UK Cabinet prepares for an away day at Chequers this week, BPA urged Ministers to agree a proposal that will ensure goods continue to flow uninterrupted between UK and EU ports post-Brexit. The UK’s post-Brexit customs relationship with the EU will dictate how almost half of UK trade is handled at the border.

Mace released a report called 'Supercharged Free Ports', focusing on role that ports play in regional and national UK economies. The report said that when the UK leaves EU, it will be able to designate its own free ports. When those free ports are supercharged by being combined with enterprise zones, the economic benefits to the UK will be substantial. 

UK's Freight Transport Association raises concerns that Brexit will take place without problems. With three weeks to go until Brexit talks start in Brussels, FTA says that its confidence in Government’s ability to deliver a frictionless Brexit, that will ensure UK's trading with the EU is collapsing fast.

The EU working party responsible for advising the EU Brexit negotiators visited the port of Antwerp on Monday 28 May. During their visit to the Border Inspection Post and the Antwerp Gateway Terminal the European diplomats wanted to find out the practical implications of the various Brexit scenarios.

As the European ports industry will gather in Rotterdam for the European Sea Ports Organisation Annual Conference, from 31 May to 1 June, the British Ports Association 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.

The UK Major Ports Group summarized the results of a survey to the UK’s biggest port owners and operators on what developments could shape the port of the future, in line with the Government’s Maritime 2050 Call for Evidence. The survey highlights developments in augmentation-automation to transform competitiveness.

The British Ports Association called the UK's Prime Minister to provide funding guarantees for any new border facilities and digital infrastructure, which may be needed after the UK leaves the European Union. BPA is concerned that the ports with EU traffic will need to provide new facilities and digital infrastructure for government officials to carry out customs and other border checks.

The Commission highlighted that Brexit implementation means that all EU primary and secondary law will cease to apply to the UK from 30 March 2019, unless a ratified withdrawal agreement establishes another date. The UK will then become a 'third country', which affects, among others, the EU Regulation on ship recycling. 

Following agreement UK and EU on a transition deal and, ahead of the EU Council meeting later this week, the British Ports Association issued a new report, calling for a pragmatic deal with the EU on both customs and regulatory recognition, that allows both businesses to get their goods across borders as quickly as possible.

The European Sea Ports Organisation released a position paper to submit to the negotiators, as Brexit has now entered the second phase. With this paper, ESPO calls on the Brexit negotiators to prioritise transport and more in particular maritime transport.