PD Ports has voiced strong concerns to the UK government''s proposed hike in light dues which, it believes, will "add significantly" to the annual costs of goods passing through UK ports.
Light dues are the charges that ships using UK ports pay towards the cost of running the three lighthouse authorities in the UK and Ireland; the increase is said to be needed to cover a shortfall in annual revenue.
Martyn Pellew, PD Ports group development director, warned that increases will inevitably be passed on to end-users, estimating that ships using its Teesport facilities in North East England will have to pay an extra £4m a year in total.
