New research: unlocking a triple-win for UK ports and shipping
New research highlights that Government support for “shore-power” is essential to unlock a triple-win of cleaner air, lower climate pollution, and smart 21st century electricity grids in UK ports. Shore-power, the provision of electricity for ships while in dock so they don’t need to use their diesel engines, is taking off in Europe, but is held back in the UK by high electricity taxes and a lack of Government support.
Governments in France, Germany, Norway, Denmark and Sweden are helping their ports deploy shore-power, with grants for investment and reductions in electricity taxes. But the UK is not. The imminent Transport Decarbonisation Plan is a big opportunity for the UK Government to rectify this and meaningful support should start as soon as this week’s Budget.
UK trade hit hard as Brexit crisis deepens
The economic dislocation caused by Britain’s exit from the European Union (EU) is making itself felt, threatening serious political consequences for Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative government and the Brexit agreement.
At the centre of the crisis is Northern Ireland. According to the Northern Ireland Protocol agreed between the UK and the EU, Northern Ireland remains within the EU’s single market for goods, meaning import and export checks must be carried out on goods travelling between Britain and Northern Ireland. This effectively placed a customs border down the Irish Sea, rather than between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland an EU member state which would have compromised the Good Friday Agreement ending the armed conflict in the northern six counties.
Cargo freight from France and Germany to Britain is down 50 per cent on the same point last year amid post-Brexit turmoil at border points and ports, a London-based accountancy firm has warned. The Government needs to step up now and explain how this is going to be resolved , Alex Altmann, a partner and head of the Brexit advisory group at Blick Rothenberg said.
Some businesses who usually send mountains of goods from overseas to Britain by lorry, ship and plane are now avoiding sending those items here until they get more clarity from the Government on post-Brexit trade practices and costs, Mr Altmann claimed.
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