Peel Ports eyes post-Brexit opportunities

“Ten years ago, there was a big trend of moving to European distribution centres and actually, as they see a risk in that strategy with Brexit, they might bring stock back to the UK and develop a UK warehousing footprint again,” he said, adding that there has been some early enquiries to support that view.

This, he said, ties in with the potential opportunities for the future of the UK’s Northern Powerhouse: “One of the things we’ve been arguing for is for the logistics and supply chain industry to be seen as an industry that should be a core focus for several reasons.

“The first is that the availability of land and the availability of labour is better in the north west than it is in the East Midlands where there’s a high proportion of non-UK European labour, and the South East where land is very expensive.

“You then look at the potential connectivity, whether it’s through Liverpool2 or what’s on the east coast, to transport international imports. There’s the location to connect to Scotland, connect to London for next day deliveries, online orders and also connect to Ireland.”

Mr Carr concluded that the UK’s North West “is the right sort of place for those things”. “There is a possible connection of government wanting to drive the Northern Powerhouse agenda and investing in the north. Actually, what we should be looking at is what are the opportunities that Brexit presents and how can the North exploit them.”