Less freight carried by ships

The campaign to shift freight off roads and on to inter-port shipping lanes is “in danger of being derailed”, a shipping union in the UK warned today.

Latest government figures show that the volume of goods moved by shipping around the UK coast dropped by 5% in 2003.

Total goods moved on coastal routes between UK ports was a quarter down on the 1998 high.

This meant that just 6% of goods moved within the UK went by water last year, compared with 83% by road.

Brian Orrell, general secretary of ships’ officers’ union Numast, said he was disappointed by the statistics.

He said: “At a time when there has been growing awareness of the ‘green’ credentials of shipping, it is of concern that there has been no significant shift of freight off the roads and on to the sea.

“Britain seems to be well behind its European partners in taking positive action to promote shipping as a real alternative to road transport. The government should be looking at more imaginative and innovative ways of harnessing the opportunities offered by the ‘motorways of the seas’.

“Ministers also need to find further ways of protecting UK coastal shipping from unfair competition presented by flags of convenience and operators using low-cost foreign crews.”