UK transport minister Stephen Hammond has vowed to "do all he can" to see the EU’s latest proposals for port services regulation are thrown out.
At the annual reception of the UK Major Ports Group, the minister told members that he shared their concerns over the proposals. “Of course we want to see an efficient ports sector and don’t want to see distorted and wasted state aid – but this minister will do all he can to make sure that this Port Services Directive will be defeated,” he said.
UKMPG chairman Charles Hammond, chief executive of Forth Ports, had earlier outlined the significant contribution made by the ports industry to the UK’s economy, including generating 400,000 jobs, directly and indirectly, and contributing more than £21bn to GDP and tax revenues of more than £6bn.
“We continue to invest in our major ports – over £300m per annum in the five years to 2011 and, importantly, productivity in that period has also improved by 14% and crucially since the financial recession 2009 by 8%.”
This had been helped by a policy of allowing ports to make their own commercial decisions on investment and operational matters, said Charles Hammond. “It is the success of our industry that causes us to react so negatively to the proposals by the EU Commission for port services regulation, which would introduce unnecessary bureaucracy, interference in commercial negotiations involving ports and customers, and a level of control over port charges which is both unacceptable and unnecessary.
“These proposals have been defeated on two previous occasions and we will be pressing in partnership with the government to defeat the latest set of proposals too.”
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