Draft Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Air Pollution from Ships) (Amendment) Regulations 2021

Mike Kane Excerpts

Wednesday 15th September 2021 General Committees

[Mike Kane (Wythenshawe and Sale East) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Davies. To be in Committee today, discussing the maritime sector in London International Shipping Week, is a great honour. In this week in particular, I pay tribute to everyone in the maritime sector, which played such a crucial role in getting this country through the pandemic crisis and which will continue to play a crucial role in the months and years ahead. The Minister and I enjoyed a very pleasurable cruise together today—I hope Hansard records that accurately—on the River Thames with industry leaders, where we got to thank them personally for the effort they have put in to keeping our supply chains in the UK moving.

I welcome the opportunity to discuss air pollution today. We all know that it poses not just an environmental threat, but a severe threat to public health, as the Minister pointed out. In my own constituency, the most vulnerable people in our community, children and older people are dealing with increased levels of bronchitis, asthma, heart problems and cancer caused by excesses of nitrogen dioxide in the air they breathe. It is vital that we work to reduce the volume of those emissions and of sulphur dioxide and it is right that we look to all parts of the transport sector to play a part.

We are obliged by MARPOL to control emissions, and our reputation as a maritime nation could be damaged if we fail in that quest. As we come out of lockdown, the effects of climate change are being seen and felt globally. Last year, my constituency was flooded, and the news channels show us wildfires in Europe and across the globe—nothing could more strongly make the case for a green recovery, rooted in decarbonisation and climate justice.

We know what we need to do, and we must start to do it now. Our maritime sector, which is often overlooked, has a crucial role to play, and with the COP26 UN climate change conference imminent, now is the time for us to look ahead and consider a greener future for the industry.

Do the proposals go far enough? I would argue that, in revitalising the maritime sector, we could unlock tens of thousands of jobs across the UK, with many of them green jobs and, very importantly, concentrated in our neglected coastal communities. I had the great honour of visiting the port of Hull a couple of months ago, and cycled from the train station to meet the chief executive in the port, passing the Siemens wind turbine factory. It was a sight to behold, with tens of thousands of highly paid, unionised jobs decarbonising our economy in the heart of a previously neglected coastal community.

This could be the opportunity to renew the many towns and villages that are dotted along the UK coastline, which are in desperate need of improvements to transport, job opportunities and connectivity, and which would be at the heart of maritime sector growth.

I speak frequently to those in the sector, and they tell me how keen they are to make the changes that are needed—to develop, innovate and change for the greener. However, the Government need to fund and support that radical transformation. In doing so, they would rapidly lower carbon emissions from shipping, and in the process could develop world-leading renewable fuels and reskill our workers for a sustainable future.

It is time for Government action. Decarbonisation and the rebalancing of our economy are possible, and UK maritime, with its wealth of talent and expertise, has shown time and again its ability to generate enormous value. This is a fantastic opportunity for our country, as there is no clear global leader setting the pace to develop zero emission shipping technology, and if Ministers are prepared to act quickly and invest, the UK can become a scientific and green technological superpower, bringing jobs and prosperity to our communities around our coast. However, there is no time to lose.

We have a moral duty and an environmental obligation to control pollution and to reduce emissions of both sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide from ships and from our skies and in our children’s lungs. Controlling emissions will allow the UK to comply with its obligations as a party to MARPOL and to reduce the risk of reputational damage from not meeting our obligations.

The new regulations will also enable UK ship inspectors to enforce the international pollutant limits and standards more effectively, so I am happy to support the statutory instrument and will continue to be an advocate for more investment in our maritime sector to ensure we get there and take our rightful place at the front of the vanguard.