Pushing back

When Simon Bird, chief executive of Bristol Port, stepped into the hot seat at the UK Major Ports Group towards the end of last year, there were no surprises as to what topped his – and the industry’s – agenda. It was and is, of course, Brussels’ proposed Port Services Regulation.

“This is the third attempt by the EU to force unwelcome regulation on ports throughout Europe. We and the Government are aligned in being against these regulations,” he said.

At this point, it might even be viewed as a fourth attempt, or at least number three-and-a-half. The push to regulate Europe’s ports bumped along last year – the transport committee considered the regulation early in 2014 and put forward about 400 amendments. Then came the European elections, in which about one-third of the MEPs changed, and a hiatus as a new Parliament was formed and Commissioners appointed.

In January this year, Mr Bird was among those invited to Brussels to discuss the ports sector with the new Transport Commissioner, Violeta Bulc.

In parallel, the proposed regulation is now with the new Parliament, and Knut Fleckenstein, the Parliament’s rapporteur on market access to port services and financial transparency of ports, is considering how to take it forward.

“The rapporteur is particularly concerned also about state aid and wants to look at both in tandem,” says Mr Bird.

There have also been suggestions that the contention chapter on market intervention could be deleted. Could that make the package palatable for British ports? “The concern is that if it does go on the statute books and the chapter on market intervention is removed, it could be reinstated later,” he says.

Shipping Minister John Hayes was robust in his comments at the UKMPG reception last November, emphasising that the Government has, at this point, secured an exemption for British ports from some elements of the proposals. However, that has yet to be finally confirmed in Brussels.

“The UK government will not want to adopt anything that damages the vitality of the [ports] industry,” said Mr Hayes. “We will work with all in this room – employers, stakeholders, trade unions – to resist this at every turn.”

Different views

Mr Bird says: “Across Europe, there are different countries and different ports and different unions – and all have difficulty with different parts of the Port Services Regulation. The rapporteur is quite challenged to put something forward that will appeal to enough people to take it forward.”

At January’s discussions with Ms Bulc, there were ports represented from across Europe, and the huge diversity of views as to what the EU should be doing is a real sticking point, he says.

“For example, there were a lot of words talked about transparency and level playing fields – but they mean different things to different ports. From the UK’s point of view, we don’t need the regulation. We are at one with John Hayes and if an exemption can be delivered, it would be good news.

“Our policy is that we wish to reject the regulation outright. This whole process started at the beginning of the 2000s. Each time we have had different texts. Outright rejection is a very firm position, rather than trying to negotiate word by word and losing what it is we are trying to object to.

“The UK port model works and is successful and transparent. It provides a level playing field and investors are happy to invest because of its transparency.”

The UK has the largest port sector in the EU in terms of the number of ports – 44 core, with an annual tonnage of over 500m. Ports support more 400,000 jobs in the UK and contribute over €26bn to the economy each year, over 1% of GDP, says the UKMPG.

Simon Bird has described the proposed regulation as ‘another example of the incompatibility of UK and mainland European business cultures’.

“If you were a customer at Bristol and you fell out with us, you could go to Liverpool or Southampton or several other deepwater ports in the UK,” he says. “There isn’t the same competition in Europe, where the ownership structure is different, as many ports are owned by local government.

“The shipping lines say they want more competition in the continental ports. But we don’t need more competition here in the UK, because the model is different – the sector is highly privatised, very competitive and, as a consequence, very efficient.”

A recent study by Oxford Economics into the importance of Bristol Port concluded that companies working within the port, including the privately owned port company, support more than 10,000 jobs in the South West UK, and 19,000 across the UK. The study also said that £1 in every £199 of economic output in the South West is in some way dependent on the business of companies in the docks.