Ports and Transport Policy - a national strategy?

The most recent expression of national ports policy by government was in “Modern Ports” published by the Department for Transport (DfT) in November 2000. It was the first comprehensive ports policy document for many years and largely confirmed UK policies as they had evolved following the disbanding of the National Ports Council in 1981. The National Ports Council was the last example of direct government involvement in port strategic planning; repeal of the Dock Labour Scheme in 1989 was swiftly followed by the Ports Bill in 1991 which led some ports to privatise, marking the completion of a period of significant deregulation.

The issue of the pros and cons of a formal “national ports strategy” emerges from time to time. The growing regionalisation of government means that on a local basis, RDAs and local authorities look to ports as economic regenerators. Also, devolution has moved large areas of responsibility for ports away from Whitehall. Key issues such as safety and security remain national, but important day to day decisions – for example on Harbour Revision Orders – are taken by the devolved administrations.

Another pressure is the need for new developments. In the container and ro-ro sectors, for example, new capacity will be needed to meet increasing demands. The overwhelming majority of container traffic currently passes through the South East of the country. New developments can come into conflict with environmental designations such as the Habitats Directive. This has led to calls from some quarters for a better defined ports strategy which identifies areas for development. However, applications continue to be examined on a “case by case” basis and this is the industry’s preferred option.