News and Events

Our partners at the European Sea Ports Organization have produced an environmental questionnaire: “ESPO Environmental Review” for the EcoPorts initiative. The BPA would encourage members to respond to the Review. The results are invaluable – they will provide both an analysis of the state of play in the UK and we will also have the opportunity to compare performance with other EU member states.

The Review is very easy to fill in and asks some basic, broad brush questions. To access it you need to get on to the EcoPorts website – where the Review can be found under the News section on the Home Page. You then have to register which is a swift process.

BPA Annual Review

The BPA Annual Review 2008-09 was presented to members at the Association’s AGM on Tuesday 31 March in London. The Review summarises the BPA’s recent activities across the range of sectors within the ports industry. The Review can is attached here: BPA Annual Review 2008-09.pdf

If you would like hard copy please contact us on the number at the foot of the page.

Along with two of our partners in the “One Voice” initiative (UKMPG and the Chamber of Shipping) the BPA commissioned Oxford Economics to carry out an economic contribution study of the port and shipping industries. The study was launched by the Ports and Shipping Minister Jim Fitzpatrick MP and the Chair of the Commons Transport Select Committee Louise Ellman MP, at a Parliamentary reception at the House of Commons on 9 March 2009.

The study has come up with some interesting findings. In 2007, the ports sector directly employed 132,000 people equating to 0.5% of total employment in the UK, comparing well against the 96,000 people the study identifies as working in the shipping industry.

Adding together the direct, indirect and induced impacts, ports were estimated to have supported 362,000 jobs in 2007, which was 1.2% of all employment in the UK. Collectively ports and the maritime sector contributed £17.9 billion to GDP, with the ports themselves contributing £7.1 billion in tax revenues to the Exchequer.

The DfT has recently published a consultation on the revised trust port guidance for ports in England and Wales. The previous guidance published in 2000 concentrated on corporate governance but this new document includes advice on issues relating to operational and financial performance as well as management structures.

The guidance applies to all sized ports in the trust sector however it is non-regulatory in nature. It will be down to individual trusts to select the aspects of the document which they decide are relevant to their business structure, however ports will be expected to give good reason why they do not comply with the areas of the guidance that they deem irrelevant.

The consultation closes on 7 April 2009 and as a key player in the sector the BPA will be responding on behalf of its members. The consultation can be found here.

The attached article by David Whitehead, Director of the BPA was been published in December 2008 in both the House Magazine (the internal Parliamentary publication) and the New Statesmen.

Ports Industry – New Legislation, New Policies – Dec 2008

The BPA has circulated a ports industry briefing Marine and Coastal Access Bill and this can be found here.

The BPA has submitted a joint response with the UKMPG to the Ofcom consultation on ‘Applying Spectrum Pricing to the Maritime and Aeronautical sectors’ consultation paper.

Joint BPA/UKMPG response to Consultation on draft Guidelines.

The presentations for the BPA’s recently held 2008 Annual Conference in Milford Haven will be made available to members shorlty. For £15 non-members can purchase a CD with the presentational slides on. To order a CD please contact us here.

The MDST presentation given by Gail Bradford on short sea roro and feeder markets is also available to download on the MDST website here

The Conference programme can be found here.

Attached is the BPA’s response to the MCA’s consultation on Ship to Ship Transfers.