UK Ports Research Articles

Rise Up: Ecological and Social Responses to the Use of Advanced Mooring Systems to Recover Seagrass Habitat at Cawsand, England

UK recreational boating infrastructure in UK ports and harbors consistently coincides with Marine Protected Area designation. Under UK Marine Protected Area designations, vulnerable seabed habitats such as seagrass beds require protection and/or restoration. Mooring and anchoring activity has coincided with increasing concerns over the conservation status of the climate-buffering properties of seagrass beds in the literature and from empirical studies. Up until this study, there has yet to be a significant UK based trial of a number of modified moorings to see their impact on the reduction in pressure on vulnerable benthic habitats. In May 2019, we installed and tested five Advanced Mooring Systems (AMS) in Cawsand Bay, Plymouth Sound, UK. A further 10 such devices were installed in 2021 after the COVID 19 pandemic. The original five devices tested were ‘Stirling’ systems, whereby the rode is raised above the seabed by use of several submerged floats set at 1.5–2 m intervals along the chain, leading to a top mark that secures the vessel. Each AMS were attached to the seabed using helical screwpiles by commercial divers using a waterproof hydraulic wrench. The devices have held securely since May 2019, and monitoring of seagrass around these five moorings has occurred regularly (at approximately 6 monthly intervals) between May 2019 and May 2023. No seeding or transplantation to prime seagrass recovery has taken place around the base of the moorings during this period. Nevertheless, during the sixth dive survey in May 2023, 4 years after installation, a 212% increase in seagrass density was recorded within the zone previously abraded by the moorings and riser chains. Blade length of the longest seagrass shoots has also increased over the test period. Semi-structured interviews were held with participants in the trial from boat users, NGOs and government agencies to ascertain attitudes and responses to seagrass conservation and the use of AMS. Interaction with stakeholders are important to securing positive community buy-in to such interventions. We recommend that for small sailing craft and powerboats these systems provide a fit-for-purpose engineering and ecological solution to support the restoration of seagrass beds, but that such initiatives must be accompanied by significant understanding and interaction with local stakeholders.

Scaling-up 5G adoption in smart ports: barriers and enablers

ABSTRACT As the fifth generation of mobile communication technology, 5G is predicted to be a significant focus for investment by the logistics industry in the coming years. One area where it is expected to have a significant impact is ports, enabling further digitization and the development of Smart Ports. The aim of this paper is to investigate the barriers and enablers to 5G adoption, focusing on the UK port industry. Data has been collected from nine senior representatives from the UK port sector as well as two technology providers. Potential use cases are identified, along with barriers and enablers to their adoption. These including building a business case with appropriate use cases, the trade-off between legacy systems and 5G capability, technology maturity, skill development within the workforce, and the role of government in supporting innovation. This work contributes by giving insights into the challenges when introducing 5G within the port environment. Research of 5G applications in logistics currently focuses more on the technological applications rather than the business implications from adoption.

A Literature Review of Seaport Decarbonisation: Solution Measures and Roadmap to Net Zero

This paper provides a comprehensive review of the literature related to seaport decarbonisation by combining the academic literature with case studies, industrial reports, newsletters, and domain knowledge. Through the literature review, the emission sources at seaports are categorised according to different criteria for better understanding. One of the criteria is the geographic location, which divides the emission sources into four categories. For each emission source category, the emission reduction measures in the literature are categorised into six structured categories including operational measures, technical measures, fuel and energy measures, infrastructural measures, digitalisation measures, and policy and collaboration measures. The first three categories have a direct impact on emission reductions, whereas the last three categories tend to support and facilitate the development and implementation of the first three categories. Representative case studies are selected from the UK ports to discuss their decarbonisation practices and pathways to net zero. We then propose a generic time-phased roadmap for port decarbonisation towards net zero, which divides the solution measures in each category into three phases to show their progressive processes. We explain the dependence relationships of the solution measures in the roadmap and discuss the challenges and opportunities in the implementation of the roadmap. This paper could offer strategic guidelines to port-associated stakeholders to implement emission reduction strategies and transition to net zero from the system perspective.

Relying on the Kindness of Strangers: Welfare-Providers to Seafarers and the Symbolic Construction of Community

Seafarers who call into ports usually hope for, or anticipate, a visit from people who provide them with welfare services—from SIM cards and mobile top-up vouchers to religious or nonreligious reading materials, and free transport to the nearest seafarers’ center or shopping mall. In seafarers’ centers, seafarers can normally use free internet facilities, enjoy drinks from the bar, avail themselves of remittance services, and if they wish, practice their faith in rooms/chapels dedicated to religious observance. While port chaplains are usually the people that seafarers associate with welfare services, port chaplains are not alone in providing these services—there are also paid staff and volunteers working in seafarers’ centers. This worldwide community of welfare providers displays the patina of a homogeneous bloc, sharing the same functions, activities, and end-goals in their everyday pursuits in ports and seafarers’ centers. However, this belies a more complex and sometimes fractured community of welfare providers in ports. While their services could be described with one coherent narrative of kindness to strangers, members of this community come from different backgrounds and are employed by different welfare organizations, and in the case of port chaplains, by different religious maritime charities with varying theologies. As a result of this, and the challenges to and changing contexts of maritime welfare services, in ports worldwide, this community is riven with contestation and everyday politics, which may be associated with a symbolically constructed community. This article expands on these issues. It is underpinned by research into welfare provision in two UK ports and in five other countries. It highlights narratives of unity and conflict, opening the doors to a community of people rarely noticed by social scientists.

Assessment of port governance model: evidence from the Brazilian ports

PurposeSince enacting Act 8630/93, Brazilian port activities have been going through significant modifications, changing from the public port service management to the landlord model. Act 12815/2013 enforced a new regulatory framework increasing Port Authorities' dependence on the Federal Government. Since 2019, the Government has attempted to elaborate a Port Authorities' identity based on the private port governance model inspired by the Australian and United Kingdom ones. This paper assesses Brazilian's Port Authorities management models from 1993 to 2020 and considers the Australian, the United Kingdom and Antwerp port governance models as benchmarks.Design/methodology/approachThis paper adopts a two-step methodological approach, namely a combined desk and field research methodological approach and considers three essential resources: government legislative acts and published data available online; ports' data and information issued by governments' agencies, academic papers and national and international ports' websites; and a semi-structured questionnaire survey targeting the leading associations representing port users, foreign trade and stevedoring companies.FindingsThe outcome shows that the solutions to overcome the existing Brazilian Port Authority governance problems remain in the Federal Government's hands by (1) removing its control through bureaucracy, (2) preventing the party-political influence following in the public ports and (3) decentralising port management by chief executive officers named by Port Authority Councils.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper does not explore the regulatory frameworks underlying the “Lease Terminal” and “Private User Terminal”.Originality/valueThis paper assesses the management models that led Brazilian's Port Authorities from 1993 to 2020, comparing them with the UK and Australian private service port and Antwerp landlord model.

Public health information on COVID-19 for international travellers: lessons learned from a mixed-method evaluation

ObjectivesIn the containment phase of the response to the COVID-19 outbreak, Public Health England (PHE) delivered advice to travellers arriving at major UK ports. We aimed to rapidly evaluate the impact and effectiveness of these communication materials for passengers in the early stages of the pandemic. Study designThe study design used is the mixed-methods evaluation. MethodsA questionnaire survey and follow-up interviews with passengers arriving at London Heathrow Airport on scheduled flights from China and Singapore. The survey assessed passengers’ knowledge of symptoms, actions to take, and attitudes towards PHE COVID-19 public health information; interviews explored their views of official public health information and self-isolation. ResultsOne hundred and twenty-one passengers participated in the survey and 15 in follow-up interviews. Eighty three percentage of surveyed passengers correctly identified all three COVID-19 associated symptoms listed in PHE information at that time. Most could identify the recommended actions and found the advice understandable and trustworthy. Interviews revealed that passengers shared concerns about the lack of wider official action, and that passengers’ knowledge had been acquired elsewhere as much from PHE. Respondents also noted their own agency in choosing to self-isolate, partially as a self-protective measure. ConclusionPHE COVID-19 public health information was perceived as clear and acceptable, but we found that passengers acquired knowledge from various sources and they saw the provision of information alone on arrival as an insufficient official response. Our study provides fresh insights into the importance of taking greater account of diverse information sources and of the need for public assurance in creating public health information materials to address global health threats.

Design and implementation of two surveys targeted at describing fouling communities and identifying non-native species within active ports

AbstractPorts have long been considered ‘high-risk’ areas for the introduction of non-native species (NNS) and should therefore be a focus of NNS monitoring. The industrial nature of active ports can, however, provide various problems when attempting to carry out monitoring programmes. Current methodologies designed to identify NNS and to describe fouling communities have not been developed specifically for use in active ports and can encounter a number of issues when used in these environments. Here, two surveys were developed and trialled within an active port in South Wales, UK, designed to describe fouling communities, identify NNS and overcome some of the major limitations to conducting surveys within ports. Over a 6-month period, fouling communities dominated by solitary ascidians developed in each survey. Seven NNS were identified, mostly species already recorded in the 1950s, including the Mediterranean crab Brachynotus sexdentatus, and the more recently introduced Japanese skeleton shrimp Caprella mutica. Each survey was evaluated independently with respect to key factors, including the ability to detect NNS and practical aspects of using these survey methods in an applied context. We conclude that whilst each survey can function independently, the use of both survey types in conjunction offers the most robust solution to identifying NNS and describing wider fouling communities within active ports. This research has implications for the future monitoring and management of NNS within UK ports.

Stop the global slaughter of sharks

The unsustainable slaughter of millions of sharks for their fins continues unabated even in EU waters, threatening the survival of several species. Meanwhile, new discoveries about the ecology of the top predators illustrate how much we still have to learn about the life we are about to destroy. Michael Gross reports.

Briefing: UK port infrastructure failures and smarter solutions

Much of the UK’s ageing port infrastructure is at a tipping point, and there appears to be a recent increase in significant failures. Historically, substantially empirical design by trial and error and the inherent overdesign that this produces, combined with the use of robust materials, mean that eighteenth-and nineteenth-century port structures have sometimes lasted well. Without change in use or reduction in maintenance, they may continue to perform well. However, with the widespread use of reinforced concrete and steel sheet piles starting c. 100 years ago, the introduction of the concept of ‘design life’ was necessary. The structural ability and cost-effectiveness of maintenance of these more sensitive structures steadily decrease as the maritime degradation processes take hold. This paper considers the ever-increasing risk of infrastructure failure that the UK port industry faces and suggests the need for a considered and smart approach to the ongoing monitoring and maintenance of port assets. Examples of smart, real-time, remote monitoring technologies are discussed as the tools for port owners to avoid costly, and potentially uninsured, infrastructure failures.

Resilience orchestration and resilience facilitation: How government can orchestrate the whole UK ports market with limited resources – the case of UK ports resilience

Government departments have limited resources but they are responsible for the healthy functioning of whole markets. This tension is amplified by the opportunities to generate, share and use information from new data sources and digital technologies. Huge increases in volumes and types of data produced by sensors and firms' IT systems can potentially be shared between firms which can cause information overload. This paper uses government orchestration theory to investigate the problems and opportunities of the UK's maritime transport ministry as it supports resilience planning for the whole country's ports system. We build on the developing Lean Government (l- Government) literature by theorizing on the differences between government and other stakeholders. We use a case study to investigate how these differences hinder as well as support the role of a government department. And how the special perspective of an orchestrator can integrate and filter information, motivate diverse collaborators and support the use of orchestration platforms in l-Government.

'No Deal' Fear-checker: UK Ports

It is often claimed that a no-deal Brexit would cause chaos at UK ports, with long delays at critical bottlenecks such as Dover, and motorways turned into vast lorry parks. This would be especially damaging for businesses that rely on complicated cross-border supply chains, notably in high-value manufacturing, or which are otherwise particularly time-sensitive, such as those transporting fresh foods or medicines.

Off the Waterfront: The Long‐Run Impact of Technological Change on Dockworkers

AbstractWe investigate how individual workers and local labour markets adjust over a long time period to a discrete and plausibly exogenous technological shock, namely the introduction of containerization in the UK port industry. This technology, which was introduced rapidly between the mid‐1960s and the late‐1970s, had dramatic consequences for specific occupations within the port industry. Using longitudinal micro‐census data, we follow dockworkers over a 40‐year period and examine the long‐run consequences of containerization for patterns of employment, migration and mortality. The results show that the job guarantees negotiated by the unions protected dockworkers' employment until the guarantees were removed in 1989. A matched comparison of workers in comparable unskilled occupations reveals that, even after job guarantees were removed, dockworkers did not fare worse than the comparison group in terms of their labour market outcomes. Our results suggest that job guarantees provided a safety net which reduced the cost to workers of sudden technological change.

Shanty singing in twenty-first-century Britain

The revival of the shanty accompanied the decline of the UK’s shipping industry in the mid-twentieth century. It was dominated by the larger-than-life figure of Stan Hugill, a former shantyman who ensured the continuation of this musical tradition through his performances and books. But in fact, as shanty authority the late Roy Palmer has pointed out, the idea of reviving a dying art had been a concern by the end of the nineteenth century. Following this, folk-song collectors like Cecil Sharp made concerted efforts to document shanties but also to make adaptations (such as censoring the lyrics and providing piano accompaniments) to enable them to be performed on land – even on the concert platform – by those who had little or no direct experience of seafaring. Although this seems to be the complete opposite to Hugill’s approach of connecting the songs with their traditional maritime context, both aimed to ensure that shanties remained relevant. This article considers the continuation of these attitudes to the shanty in the twenty-first century. The recent resurgence in shanty singing in the UK has taken place alongside the regeneration of many UK port areas, the (re-)development of sailortowns as contemporary tourist destinations and associated attempts to connect the public with maritime heritage. I will focus in particular on the Falmouth (Cornwall) International Sea Shanty Festival, exploring the aims and motivations of different performing groups and analysing their contemporary approaches to music which is inextricably linked with seafaring history.

Sea Change: How Markets & Property Rights Could Transform the Fishing Industry

Global fish catches in the seas and oceans have stagnated since the mid-1990s. Because there are generally no established property rights in wild fish, fisheries are vulnerable to the ‘tragedy of the commons’. Trawler owners race to catch as many fish as possible before they are caught by competitors. While the short-term benefits of overfishing accrue to the individual trawler owners, the long-term costs in terms of reduced yields are shared. Governments have greatly exacerbated the problem of overfishing by subsidising the industry and undermining the economic feedback mechanisms that help to protect stocks. The European Union’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) has been particularly prone to this, with disastrous results. The British fishing industry, for example, has been in almost continuous decline in recent decades as stocks have fallen. Landings into UK ports of the more valuable demersal fish such as cod have plummeted by around 80% since 1970. The UK shares fishing grounds with other member states and has been allocated a relatively small share of EU quotas. Under the CFP, a high proportion of fish caught have been thrown back dead into the sea. Brexit will enable the UK to withdraw from the CFP and adopt a more efficient approach within its large Exclusive Economic Zone, which stretches up to 200 nautical miles from the coast. This has the potential both to increase catches and eliminate subsidies from taxpayers. Policy options include facilitating community-based management in some coastal fisheries and introducing Individual Transferable Quotas (ITQs) for other areas. Many local communities around the world have evolved successful approaches to managing coastal fisheries without the need for government intervention. They set their own rules on who has access to the resource, how it can be fished and what sanctions will be imposed if violations occur. Such management models have typically been highly effective at conserving stocks and maintaining yields in the long term, in marked contrast to the failure so often observed under state regulation. Property-rights-based systems, such as Individual Transferable Quotas, alter incentives in ways that are favourable to conservation and stewardship, because overfishing reduces the value of the quotas owned by fishermen. Where they have been introduced, ITQs have improved efficiency by reducing excessive fishing effort and over-capitalisation. Although the success or failure of any policy approach will be affected by the characteristics of the fishery to which it is applied, there are general lessons. An economically rational strategy for UK waters post-Brexit, and other fisheries currently subject to mismanagement, will necessarily involve phasing out government subsidies in all their forms and better aligning incentives with the long-term preservation of stocks.

High prevalence of Legionella in non-passenger merchant vessels.

There is a paucity of information on the risk from potable water in non-passenger merchant vessels (NPMVs) particularly with regard to Legionella and other bacteria. This retrospective study examined water samples from 550 NPMVs docked in eight UK ports. A total of 1027 samples from 412 NPMVs were examined for total aerobic colony counts (ACC), coliforms, Escherichia coli and enterococci; 41% of samples yielded ACC above the action level (>1 × 103 c.f.u./ml) and 4·5% contained actionable levels (>1 c.f.u./100 ml) of faecal indicator bacteria. Eight hundred and three samples from 360 NPMVs were cultured specifically for Legionella and 58% of vessels proved positive for these organisms with 27% of samples showing levels greater than the UK upper action limit of 1 × 103 c.f.u./l. Cabin showers (49%) and hospital shower (45%) were frequently positive. A subset of 106 samples was analysed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction for Legionella and identified a further 11 Legionella-positive NPMVs, returning a negative predictive value of 100%. There was no correlation between NPMV age or size and any microbial parameters (P > 0·05). Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 was isolated from 46% of NPMVs and sequence-based typing of 17 isolates revealed four sequence types (STs) previously associated with human disease. These data raise significant concerns regarding the management of microbial and Legionella risks on board NPMVs and suggest that better guidance and compliance are required to improve control.

Port governance in the UK: Planning without policy

The UK's highly privatised port system means that, while many of the issues in the port governance literature relevant to port concessions do not arise here, the respective roles of harbour authorities and port operators continue to be questioned. The concern in the UK is whose role it should be to monitor the capacity and service quality of the port sector, including how to govern the ways in which the different classes of port stakeholder interact.This paper describes and discusses the UK port sector, the main ports and cargo types, the governance system and recent developments. Recent changes in national policy are reviewed and potential new developments in governance are considered, reflecting on how the UK case represents some key theoretical considerations regarding infrastructure governance within a modern political system favouring private ownership and operation of the transport sector.

A systematic assessment of maritime disruptions affecting UK ports, coastal areas and surrounding seas from 1950 to 2014

Maritime disruptions can have severe negative implications including affecting business operations, regional and national economies and causing damage to vessels. This study analysed maritime disruptions in UK ports, coastal areas and surrounding seas from 1950 to 2014, systematically assessing their scale, duration, extent and consequences. Disruptions are a single or sequence of hazardous events that negatively affect ‘business as usual’ conditions, ranging from minor to major disruption and even loss of life. To express this range, a severity scale was developed and applied. A database of maritime disruptions and their severities was constructed using data archaeology, identifying 88 events, primarily caused by wind storms (36 %), human error (23 %), mechanical faults (14 %) and storm surges (12 %). All events other than human error or mechanical faults occurred between October and March (typically associated with autumn/winter storms and depressions), with 65 % recorded between November and January. Maritime disruptions from weather events tended to have regional/national impacts, whereas human error or mechanical faults were usually locally severe. Since 2000, ports demonstrated more frequent disruption to wind storms due to mechanization, increased delay and closure reporting, and refined health and safety regulations. Most frequently affected were the sea areas Fair Isle and Dover, and the Felixstowe and Dover ports. Through time, primary impacts shifted from extensive flooding and structural damage to financial impacts and disruption, associated with adaptation including implementation/upgrading of coastal defences, storm warning systems and legislation. Port and governmental bodies responded adaptively (e.g. Thames Barrier construction and development of automatic tracking systems). The UK’s maritime disruption vulnerability has altered significantly since 1950 and continues to evolve.

Responding to international terrorism: The securitisation of the United Kingdom’s ports

Illustrates the way in which the pursuit of a ‘war on terror’ in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in the United States of America on 11 September 2001 framed a policy environment that securitised UK ports. Provides a detailed elaboration of counter-terrorism practice in UK ports in the context of responses to international terrorism, laying out a typology that others interested in port security can work from. Highlights the spatial dimension to the securitisation of UK ports alongside its temporal dimension, noting the pursuit, particularly by the British state and port owners, for greater knowledge about, and through this control over, activities associated with UK ports. Contributes towards efforts to more clearly map and conceptualise maritime security by illustrating the way in which security practice within the shore component of the maritime domain—ports—was justified and practices institutionalised. This article lays out a typology of counter-terrorism practice in the UK ports in the context of responses to international terrorism, providing a mechanism to examine port security. Focusing on developments in the years after the International Ship and Port Facility (ISPS) Code came into force on 1 July 2004, the article first lays out the policy environment in which counter-terrorism practice was implemented, arguing that the securitisation of UK ports was framed by the pursuit of the ‘war on terror’. With this complete, the article moves to elaborate the typology, examining ‘legislation and regulations’, ‘institutional developments and infrastructure changes’ alongside ‘working practices’ implemented. The article concludes by utilising the typology to argue that the counter-terrorism security response relating to UK ports in this context was constantly evolving, layered and increasingly expansive in scope, highlighting a spatial dimension to the securitisation of UK ports.

Are critically endangered fish back on the menu? Analysis of U.K. fisheries data suggest post-ban landings of prohibited skates in European waters

Skates (Rajidae) have been commercially exploited in Europe for hundreds of years with some species’ abundances declining dramatically during the twentieth century. In 2009 it became “prohibited for EU vessels to target, retain, tranship or land” certain species in some ICES areas, including the critically endangered common skate and the endangered white skate. To examine compliance with skate bans the official UK landings data for 2011–2014 were analysed. Surprisingly, it was found that after the ban prohibited species were still reported landed in UK ports, including 9.6t of common skate during 2011–2014. The majority of reported landings of common and white skate were from northern UK waters and landed into northern UK ports. Although past landings could not be validated as being actual prohibited species, the landings’ patterns found reflect known abundance distributions that suggest actual landings were made, rather than sporadic occurrence across ports that would be evident if landings were solely due to systematic misidentification or data entry errors. Nevertheless, misreporting and data entry errors could not be discounted as factors contributing to the recorded landings of prohibited species. These findings raise questions about the efficacy of current systems to police skate landings to ensure prohibited species remain protected. By identifying UK ports with the highest apparent landings of prohibited species and those still landing species grouped as'skates and rays’, these results may aid authorities in allocating limited resources more effectively to reduce landings, misreporting and data errors of prohibited species, and increase species-specific landing compliance.

Shedding light on a dark past: representations of slavery at UK heritage tourism sites

Prior research has pointed out that plantation-related heritage tourism sites have not adequately represented historical connections to slavery, often using strategies to downplay or hide this part of their history. However few studies evaluate how the memories of enslavement are constructed and presented in locations where large numbers of slave trade voyages embarked. Accordingly, this study examines the representations of slavery at historical tourist destinations in three UK port cities with strong connections to the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Using a textual analysis of ten data sources, including seven publications and three museum websites, the researchers explore the key conceptual themes that are incorporated into the tourism narratives. By establishing recording units to code and categorise the data content, the research team identified five key mutually exclusive and exhaustive categories that frequently arose within the context of slavery. While the theme of the trans-Atlantic slave trade had the highest relative frequency, the data sources used for this study show there is still ambiguity surrounding memories of slavery and its connection to British wealth and prosperity.