The UK ports sector is one of the largest in Europe, handling some half a billion tonnes of freight and around 22 million passengers annually. The Department for Transport Shipping and Ports Minister Robert Goodwill is joined by senior executives from some of the UK’s largest ports to explain how, by investing in state of the art technology, they are helping to ensure that the UK can continue to meet the needs of the growing global maritime sector. Find out more about the publication of the Maritime Growth Study at the launch of London International Shipping 2015 here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/major-maritime-report-launched-as-london-international-shipping-week-gets-underway Video Transcript: Robert Goodwill MP The UK ports sector is one of the largest in Europe, handling some half a billion tonnes of freight and around 22 million passengers annually. Geoff Lippett One of the key differentiators for UK ports is the fact that we’re a privatised business predominantly in the large UK ports - that makes us very different from our European competitors who are predominantly state owned. We are therefore more agile. We do a lot more of our own investment. And that makes us attractive for international customers. Clemence Cheng It’s a very, very big plus as far as international investors are concerned. The connectivities of the UK ports, both to continental Europe and also internally, a very good infrastructure to connect us to the hinterland of the UK is also a very important factor for investors. Robin Mortimer London Gateway is a huge new investment in London, £1.5 billion new terminal, a new berth opening next year, so we’ll have the 24/7 container terminal capable of handling the world’s biggest ships. Geoff Lippett There’s physical handling capabilities which means that there’s more automation to unload all types of products. So that’s less people. There’s better IT platforms available for customers and for ports, which means there’s much more visibility for products, for ship owners, for cargo owners, forwarding agents and the ports themselves. Clemence Cheng We are having a lot of big vessels arriving in the Asia-Europe trade. I think the investments in technology and the connectivity, not just the physical connectivities but the data connectivities, with the wider logistic industries become extremely important. Robert Goodwill MP By investing in state of the art technology our port sector ensures that the UK is able to meet the needs of today’s shippers including the ability to handle the world’s largest vessels now, and well into the future.
Visibility: 1125
Duration: 2m 5s
Rating: 4