Who are its Members?

BPA members represent a very broad cross section of the UK port industry encompassing the trust, private and municipal sectors. Its members cover every kind of activity ranging from large cargo handling ports and terminal operators to small leisure ports.

The spread of these interests mean that the Association has to maintain a very wide range of contacts within the government. Full membership is available to all port authorities whilst associate membership is available to terminal operators and industry related organisations.

View a list of Members in the Our Members section.

Representation of all types of port

Ports fall into one of three types of governance and the BPA represents a range of ports and harbour from these three categories. They can function under private ownership, local authority control, or be run by a trust. All three models are open to market forces, and are run independently as stand-alone, self-financing commercial enterprises, free from government support or subsidy. The BPA is the only inclusive ports trade association and we represent all types and sizes of ports and harbours.

Commercial independence

Ports are also keen to maintain their independence and attract negligible financial support in comparison with other transport modes however areas where ports would look to the various layers of government for assistance would be in the areas of planning and transport infrastructure. Ports are totally dependent upon their connections and it is essential that the right investments in the UK’s transport network are made.