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Ensure their collective voice is heard by Government and improve freight and transport links across the North.
PD Ports, Port of Tyne, ABP Ports and Peel Ports have signed an agreement to ensure their collective voice is heard by Government and to improve freight and transport links across the North.
Following regular roundtable discussions the ports brokered a ground-breaking pact announced in Liverpool on 29 June to pursue a Northern Ports Strategy, work together to create new jobs in and around ports, and boost investment in an East-West Freight Supercorridor with improvements to rail infrastructure being the ultimate priority.
PD Ports’ development director, Geoff Lippitt (pictured), said: “These are going to be challenging economic times for the whole of the UK therefore it’s important that the North and Northern ports are seen as a progressive body to drive through that change.”
A report compiled by independent thinktank IPPR Northsays that there is considerable value in the major port operators in the North joining forces to promote themselves. ‘Gateways to the Northern Powerhouse: Towards a Northern ports strategy’ identifies 15 separate recommendations for central and local Government, and local enterprise partnerships as well as Northern ports, freight and logistics companies themselves.
It recommendations include: developing local port growth strategies focusing on industry clusters like energy and logistics; a requirement for each major port, working in conjunction with its local planning authorities to develop an adopted port masterplan; Transport of the North to work with the Department for Transport and Network Rail to prioritise an East-West freight super corridor; Government to set out a clear, consistent and long-term energy strategy on which on which businesses can plan long-term future investment and to support a shift from road to rail; and establishling a Northern Ports, Freight and Logistics Association. Read more
Source: FREIGHT BUSINESS JOURNAL
