Trade must not be hit by Brexit urges port boss

TRADE BETWEEN the Humber ports and Zeebrugge must not be allowed to be negatively affected by Brexit, business leaders representing the Belgian port warned during a visit to meet their counterparts in Humber.

Joachim Coens, chief executive of Zeebrugge Port Authority, said he was “concerned” about Brexit but urged Humber business leaders to put maximum pressure on EU and UK negotiators to preserve the current free movement of trade between Europe and the UK.

He also revealed that he and his colleagues had made the same point to the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier when he visited Zeebrugge recently.

The routes between Zeebrugge and ports on the English east coast including the Thames in the south and Teeside and Rosyth in the north have grown to rival the Dover-Calais route, with the Humber being particularly important.

The port of Zeebrugge handles 40-million tons of cargo, much of that on ro-ro ferries.

In a year it serves 8,467 vessels with cargo that includes 2.8-million automotive products, 4,000 trucks and maintains 20,000 jobs – 45 per cent of Zeebrugge’s trade is UK related, with the next largest customer being Sweden at just 10.9 per cent. Ro-ro traffic currently accounts for 14.3-million tons of cargo.

Peter Stolk, head of ports for P&O Ferries, said the company has been linking the two ports for the last 50 years and now carries one-million passengers a year.