Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, in the light of experience at the Port of Felixstowe, they intend to write to UK Port companies to encourage better planning on IT and other investment changes to ensure consistent UK port capacity in the pre-Christmas period.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
Operations at the ports of Felixstowe and at Southampton Container Terminal are matters for the operators themselves in consultation with customers and port users, including SMEs. I understand that the situation at Felixstowe has now improved following difficulties with the 'nGen' system, and that congestion recently affecting Southampton was expected to be transient.
UK container port capacity overall is easily sufficient to meet demand in the pre-Christmas period, and there is also scope for further consented expansion to meet future growth in global trade including the largest vessels currently in world fleets.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on productivity in shipside operations at the Port of Felixstowe of IT implementation issues and of problems at the port of Southampton; and what support they have offered.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
Operations at the ports of Felixstowe and at Southampton Container Terminal are matters for the operators themselves in consultation with customers and port users, including SMEs. I understand that the situation at Felixstowe has now improved following difficulties with the 'nGen' system, and that congestion recently affecting Southampton was expected to be transient.
UK container port capacity overall is easily sufficient to meet demand in the pre-Christmas period, and there is also scope for further consented expansion to meet future growth in global trade including the largest vessels currently in world fleets.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the impact of Brexit on the productivity of the UK's ports, and (2) the likely impact on the UK's ports of a no-deal Brexit.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
Her Majesty's Government is seeking to negotiate arrangements whereby trade will flow as frictionlessly as possible, facilitating continuing growth in unit load traffic and port productivity. In the event of a no-deal outcome, the aim is to ensure that UK border controls at the frontier enable traffic to continue to flow efficiently through our ports.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the annual number of used electric vehicle batteries that will require disposal or recycling per year once the sale of petrol and diesel cars and vans has ended.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
We do not hold estimates of this. We recognise that once batteries used in electric vehicles (EVs) no longer meet the needs of the motorist they will still have significant capacity remaining for alternative uses. The second-use of batteries is still in its research phase but we expect second use applications to develop significantly as EV numbers increase. The benefits of secondary uses for these batteries could include better EV residual values; and provide benefits to consumers and utilities including grid balancing and energy storage for intermittent renewable generation.