TRANSPORT ON SEA AND BY WATER
Supporting our
waterways
We recognise the contribution to be made by the
transfer of freight from roads to coastal and short-sea shipping routes. By
comparison to road transport, short-sea and coastal shipping is an
environmentally-friendly means of moving more freight. The Government must
encourage freight to be carried by sea. A coherent national ports policy is
central to that.
The Liberal Democrats believe that water-freight could
play a far more important role. We want the Government to:
Reform
and streamline the planning system
Ports must be allowed to expand,
and access to the waterside and to freight handling facilities should be
protected from ever-increasing development.
Create a level
playing field for water freight
Road User Charging will mean that
the true cost of road freight transport will be paid. This will provide an
incentive for greater use of water and rail freight.
Support the
strategic inland waterway network
The Government seems determined to
run down our waterways, with a recent 7% cut (£4m) in British Waterways
budget and nearly 200 job cuts; the Liberal Democrats are campaigning against
these cuts: http://campaigns.libdems.org.uk/waterways
Instead,
Government policies should develop and maintain the inland waterway
network, allowing the market to invest in and supply an adequate fleet of
vessels. The inland network should be integrated with the coastal maritime
‘ring-road’ to ensure that the maximum range of destinations are served by
water transport.
Supporting British
shipping
A successful shipping sector is vital for the
UK economy. It is estimated that shipping currently earns £1.2 million an
hour for the UK economy. We want to see British shipping thrive and propose:
Support for UK seafarers
The tonnage tax scheme has
attracted a considerable amount of new tonnage to the UK register. However, it
has not achieved as much as it could have done in relation to the employment of
UK seafarers. On current trends, the number of UK officers is set to more than
halve over the next 15 years.We want to create an employment link to the tonnage
tax scheme to deliver the promised growth in UK seafarer employment and
training.
A UK container hub
As the size of container
ships continues to grow a new market emerges for container transhipment hubs. It
is in the interests of the UK plc that we do not lag behind in this development
and some of these hubs must be developed in the UK. For this to happen will
require proactive engagement between Government and the shipping industry. These
is also a role for the EU Commission in establishing a proper level playing
field across the EU ports industry. Substantial evidence exists of state aids
being given to some container ports. This cannot be allowed to
continue.
