At the recent Ports Development Conference, supported by BDB Pitmans, a panel of experts discussed the issues affecting the long-term future of the ports sector.

The impact of the coronavirus pandemic has shone a light on some of the significant shifts being made within the industry, and Brexit is also introducing a new layer of uncertainty as well as potential opportunity for the sector.

Has a key moment come? This was the question raised by David Mundy, Partner at leading UK law firm, BDB Pitmans who have specialist expertise in planning and infrastructure. Mundy emphasised how the pandemic had reasserted the value of the sector, saying: “The role of ports as gateways to the UK and the UK’s gateway to the world is even more important than usual.”

Yet despite this, the pandemic has caused some disruption to the industry, with UK Major Ports Group Chief Executive Tim Morris describing a relative fall in trade: “In volume terms it’s clearly been an off-plan year, let’s put it politely and I think some of the projections we’ve had done for us suggest on aggregate that you might not be back at 2019-levels until perhaps 2022.”

Mundy also highlighted that the crisis had brought “real challenges to the supply lines” in addition to “opportunities in opening new areas of supply.”  

There was a sense of optimism from Chief Executive of the British Ports Association, Richard Ballantyne giving an “upbeat view” and noting that “we’ve had a few success stories.” 

Disruption to port business plans, investment plans and masterplans and squaring those plans with current realities has also been a significant challenge for the sector, along with the wider economy. Ballantyne acknowledged that some smaller ports may have to scale down their ambitions for the meantime, saying “it might be a little bit more challenging to justify some of their projects given cash flow issues.”

The UK’s exit of the transitionary period with the European Union is raising new questions for the sector. The unknown state of a deal, or whether or one is forthcoming at all is not yet known and will undoubtedly have a transformative impact on ports as the hubs for 95% of all of the UKs trade.

The failure to come to an agreement on a deal would cause damage to the ports sector in both the UK and Europe according to Secretary General of the European Ports Association, Isabelle Ryckbost, who described how “any barriers to trade, any barriers between countries is a barrier for ports.”

Ryckbost noted how the global trend towards deglobalisation was providing a challenge to the sector, with major countries adopting increasingly protectionist measures. She noted that the impact of the pandemic had only deepened these measures.

Ports have been establishing themselves increasingly as hubs for wider regional development, and the freeports model could further develop this circular economy trend. Morris noted: “We already have ports across the country and across Europe that have logistics facilities, manufacturing parks, even hotels and film studios.”

The government’s post-Brexit initiative to introduce freeports is seen as an opportunity to build on that, the “Special Economic Zone” model being an internationally utilised model to drive regional development, with the proposal to introduce 10 to 15 of such zones by the end of 2021.

The Climate crisis both provides a challenge and an opportunity for the sector, and Ryckbost expressed enthusiasm: “We see this an opportunity for ports to define themselves as hubs for energy, we have the whole hydrogen aspect where ports can really play a role.”

There is also the challenge of greening fleets, as well as ongoing debates in the industry on achieving zero pollution ports, both of which will no doubt be increasingly on the agenda with the government focus on a “green recovery”.

The pandemic also has served to accelerate the industry’s move towards digitalisation, which was noted by Tim Morris, who highlighted a general move towards the adoption of new technology and automation.

Overall, the Ports Sector has a comparatively positive outlook compared to much of the rest of the economy, with a plethora of new opportunities but also some genuine challenges. An atmosphere of uncertainty will likely continue until the resolution of issues surrounding Brexit and a definitive abatement of the pandemic. Ports have a real opportunity to become bastions of regeneration, energy and logistics, and will help lead an economy recovery. The need for innovation in a sector typically seen as quite slow moving has never been more paramount, but the sector’s rapid response to the Covid-19 pandemic suggests that it is very much up to the task.