Following the Health Secretary’s statement this morning that Coronavirus represents ”serious and imminent threat” to public health, the British Ports Association is calling for more funding and support to be given to UK local authority officials to prepare our borders.

The British Ports Association has welcomed the publication of a new consultation on the introduction of free ports, which have the potential to transform coastal communities and unleash ‘port-centric’ growth.

Responding to developments today (3 February 2020) including the Prime Minister’s speech in Greenwich, the British Ports Association has called on the Government to clarify the mixed messages on trade and set out a positive and detailed vision for the UK’s trade and industrial policy.

The Department for Transport have sent us some posters in relation to the Wuhan Coronavirus for those located in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland (see links below). They have asked the ports sector to ensure every effort is made to display this information where relevant and circulate to all relevant customers and stakeholders.

Were driverless HGVs to replace much of the UK’s conventional lorry and container transport within a generation, they would transform the way the RORO market works in Great Britain.

The BPA is today re-issuing our invitation for industry bodies to collaborate with us on Thought Leadership projects.

The shipping and maritime minister Nus Ghani opened the UK Chamber of Shipping and British Ports Association one-day conference on decarbonisation last week and talked of the importance of the industry in achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

The British Ports Association (BPA) outlines key priorities for 2020: Sustainability, energy transition, regional growth, connectivity, innovation, safety, people & skills, regulatory review and port ‘impact’ to be major themes.

The British Ports Association is hosting its first Port Connectivity Summit this spring to focus attention on the investment needed to better connect ports to wider transport infrastructure. This will bring together national and local policy makers to discuss how investment hinterland links to UK ports can be prioritised.

The British Ports Association is today launching it’s ‘fisheries manifesto’ that will boost UK fishing ports and the coastal communities in which they are rooted.