Richard Burden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2015-10-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the proportion of global shipping tonnage that will be registered in the UK in 2020.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Department has not produced estimates of the future size of the UK Ship Register (UKSR). The Government is committed to supporting the UK maritime sector and improving the UKSR. The Maritime Growth Study, published on 7 September 2015, contained a number of recommendations relating to the ship register.

The Government will respond formally to the report by the end of 2015, but is taking immediate action in response to some recommendations. This includes the establishment of a Ministerial Working Group for Maritime Growth and taking steps to support the improved operation of the Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) such as appointing a commercial director to lead the UKSR separately from the Agency’s regulatory functions and a business case exploring the costs and benefits of options for more significant reform of the MCA.