Cookie Policy
The cookies we set, what they do and how to control them.
Last updated: August 2026
What is a cookie?
Cookies are text files containing small amounts of information that are downloaded to your device when you visit a website. Cookies are then sent back to the originating website on each subsequent visit, or to another website that recognises that cookie. Cookies are useful because they allow a website to recognise a user's device.
Cookies do lots of different jobs, such as letting you navigate between pages efficiently, remembering your preferences, and generally improving the user experience.
How Port Strategy uses cookies
The cookies used on this website have been categorised based on the categories found in the ICC UK Cookie Guide, and are listed below by category.
When you first visit the site we ask which categories you are willing to accept. Only the strictly necessary cookies are set before you choose. Analytics, advertising and functionality cookies are held back until you accept them, and your choice is passed to Google's Consent Mode so that tags loaded through our tag manager honour it too. You can change your mind at any time using our cookie settings.
Category 1: strictly necessary cookies
These cookies are essential to enable you to move around the website and use its features, such as accessing secure areas of the website. Without these cookies, services you have asked for — like signing in, or the online purchase of a subscription — cannot be provided. They are set without consent because the site cannot work without them.
| Cookie | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|
wpcb_consent |
Records which cookie categories you have accepted, so we do not ask again on every page. | 1 year |
wordpress_logged_in_*, wordpress_sec_* |
Keeps you signed in to your account and secures the session. | End of session, or 14 days if you choose to stay signed in |
wp-settings-* |
Remembers screen preferences for signed-in editorial and administrative users. | 1 year |
__stripe_mid, __stripe_sid |
Set by Stripe, our payment provider, to process a payment and to detect and prevent fraud at checkout. | 1 year and 30 minutes respectively |
Category 2: performance cookies
These cookies collect information about how visitors use a website — for instance, which pages visitors go to most often, and whether they get error messages from web pages. These cookies don't collect information that identifies a visitor. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. It is only used to improve how a website works. They are set only if you accept analytics cookies.
| Cookie | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|
_ga, _ga_* |
Set by Google Analytics, loaded through our tag manager, to count visits and sessions and to tell returning visits apart. We use this to understand which content is read. | 2 years |
Category 3: functionality cookies
These cookies allow the website to remember the choices you make and provide enhanced, more personal features. The information these cookies collect is anonymised, and they cannot track your browsing activity on other websites.
| Cookie | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|
wpcb_utm_source, wpcb_utm_medium, wpcb_utm_campaign, wpcb_utm_term, wpcb_utm_content, wpcb_gclid |
Remembers which campaign or link brought you to the site, so that if you later fill in a form we can tell which of our campaigns it came from. | 30 days |
Category 4: advertising cookies
These cookies are used for the benefit of our business subscribers to deliver adverts relevant to their jobs. They are also used to limit the number of times you see an advertisement, as well as to help measure the effectiveness of an advertising campaign. They are set only if you accept advertising cookies.
| Cookie | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|
IDE, test_cookie |
Set by Google Ad Manager, which serves the display advertising on this site, to measure advertisement impressions and clicks and to limit how often you see the same advertisement. | Up to 13 months, and 15 minutes respectively |
Our email and customer systems — Campaign Monitor, Postmark and Workbooks — do not set cookies on this website. Campaign Monitor may set cookies on its own pages if you follow a link from one of our newsletters; that is covered by its own policy.
What can I do about cookies?
You can change your choices at any time using our cookie settings.
You may also block cookies or delete existing cookies using your web browser. To do so, please visit aboutcookies.org for more information and instructions on how to manage cookies. Blocking or deleting cookies may affect some of the functionality of our websites.
Further information
Mercator Media's websites
The information on this page applies to all of the following websites owned and operated by Mercator Media Ltd:
- coastlink.co.uk
- commercialmarinenetwork.com
- greenport.com
- greenport.com/congress
- greenseascongress.com
- icefish.is
- icefishconference.com
- maritimejournal.com
- mercatormedia.com
- motorship.com
- portstrategy.com
- propulsionconference.com
- seawork.com
- seaworkasia.com
- worldfishing.net
Contact
If you would like further information you can contact us at:
Mercator Media Ltd
Spinnaker House
Waterside Gardens
Fareham
Hampshire
PO16 8SD
England
Or email us at webservices@mercatormedia.com.