Something is stirring at the end of the breakwater. Ports, for so long regarded as rather embarrassing reminders of an age when heavy machinery was moved by heavy men to unload smoking grimy steamers, have begun to register as vital links in a modern policy for sustainable and integrated transport. It is fair to say that the debate has begun rather than ended, but the signs are there. Quite where the debate will lead is by no means certain, but it is possible to discern some clues from the early exchanges.

Not too much has changed in fact during the last year. Traffic continues to grow at a steady pace - trailer traffic, for example grew almost 10% over the year. The trend to port concentration is maintained - of the UKs 600 or so recognisable ports, only about 100 are active commercial centres, and nine of their number account for two thirds of the trade. Deep sea traffic representing about a quarter of trailer or container movements is concentrating into three ports - Felixstowe, Southampton and Thamesport, whilst continental , and coastal traffic (75% of movement) concentrated into Immingham, Felizstowe, Hull, Purfleet, Teesport, Harwich and Dover. Some channel ports continued to ship freight but lost out both in passengers and trailers to Dover and the burgeoning channel tunnel. What is perhaps surprising is the buoyancy of the channel port market in the face of the tunnel, rather than its marginal decline.

Not much change in the cold statistics. But what has changed is the view of the future. The integrated Transport White paper, published last summer acknowledged the key role that ports play , and can play, in an integrated transport and distribution structure. The European Unions green paper on ports, published the year before, held out the prospect of establishing better and more effective multimodal Trans-European networks (TENS) and the UK Government indicated strong commitment to the role of UK ports in these developments. Subsequently, a ‘daughter’ white papers on shipping and sustainable distribution have been published. among other matters, these indicate the intention to extend the freight facilities grant to coastal shipping, with the conscious aim of encouraging the development of presently under-utilised port capacity for domestic freight routes,

What was missing, and still is in detail, is a similar ‘daughter’ white paper on ports. However, help is at hand. In February 1999, a draft outline of a paper was produced with an invitation to comment. At the time of writing, the resulting white paper has not emerged, but it is possible to see some of its contents from the outline headings so far produced. The government is keen to use existing infrastructure to best effect, rather than expansion, where practicable It wishes to see trust ports operating on a more accountable basis, but has clearly abandoned the route of privatisation that was once held out as their future. It wishes to see ports increasingly as multimodal distribution centres, combining both efficiency of seaward handling and the speedy interchange to rail and road. It supports strongly the initiatives stemming from the EU ports green paper, not only concerning TENS, but also in respect of the transparency of funding reporting that the commission proposes between all European ports.

So what does this mean for the health and welfare of UK ports? Above all, it suggests that, for the first time, a government is looking keenly at the overall role ports play in the transport infrastructure, both in terms of what traffic the port itself handles, but how that traffic arrives or departs from the port. This recognition will, I believe result in some substantial changes in the way ports operate. It is apparent to anyone who examines the issues closely that shipping is a very environmentally friendly way of moving goods: extending that analysis to modal transfer and distribution

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