Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to expand protections for British seafarers employed by companies registered outside of the UK.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is acting through the Employment Rights Bill to improve protections for seafarers by providing powers to protect the working conditions of those working aboard international services frequently calling at UK ports. The Bill will also close a loophole that prevented prosecution of employers who failed to provide notification of proposed collective redundancies aboard ships registered outside of the UK. These protections will benefit seafarers working aboard services in scope, including when they are employed by companies registered outside of the UK.
My Department will also continue to work internationally to improve protections for seafarers, including through implementing the amendments to the Maritime Labour Convention agreed in April by representatives of shipowners, seafarers and governments at the International Labour Organization in Geneva. The new provisions include measures that will help to protect seafarers against violence and harassment, strengthen their rights to repatriation and improve access to shore leave. It is expected that these amendments will come into force internationally on 23 December 2027.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what criteria her Department is using to decide which coastal ports or dry docks will receive UK SHORE funding.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The UK SHORE programme in the Department for Transport will primarily allocate funding through open competitions, delivered by Innovate UK. Competition scopes and assessment criteria will be published alongside competition announcements between 2026 and 2030.
We are committed to supporting projects across the UK. UK SHORE has previously allocated £240m for clean maritime. This has supported organisations in all UK nations and regions, including around £30m allocated to projects in the North West.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support ports wishing to offer onshore power connections to cruise line customers.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
On 25 March, the government published the Maritime Decarbonisation Strategy and a call for evidence on Net Zero Ports. This call for evidence focused on potential options to reduce emissions from vessels at berth and the future energy demand at ports, including the provision of shore power to customers, including cruise operators. We are considering the responses to the call for evidence.
In addition, research and development into the future fuels and technologies necessary to decarbonise the sector have been supported through the UK SHORE R&D programme, including projects such as Portsmouth’s shore power installation. This project will go live later this year, backed by nearly £20m of government funding, and will allow visiting cruise ships to connect.
The Government working closely with Ofgem and the National Energy System Operator on fundamental reforms to the connections process that will release up to 500GW of capacity from the connections queue. This may enable quicker provision of shore power where capacity is released in port locations.
Asked by: Amanda Martin (Labour - Portsmouth North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that projects supported by the Zero Emission Vessel Infrastructure fund in (a) Aberdeen (b) Portsmouth and (c) the UK are able to proceed with vessel plug-in demonstrations; and whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of (i) uncertainty on the UK Emission Trading Scheme's applicability to domestic maritime, (ii) the VAT rating of shore power and (iii) the level of ports' (A) transmission and (B) standing charges on the viability of such projects.
Answered by Mike Kane
The Zero Emission Vessel Infrastructure (ZEVI) fund provided £80 million of funding to ten projects, including over £25 million for cold ironing projects in Portsmouth, Aberdeen and Falmouth. Our UK SHORE programme delivery partner Innovate UK, monitors, scrutinises and works with projects to ensure they are on track for delivery and to assist with overcoming barriers which may impact upon delivery.
While we have not specifically assessed the impact of the points raised on the viability of ZEVI projects, the wider policy environment will of course enable the long-term viability of these projects.
The recently published Maritime Decarbonisation Strategy sets out our intended policy package for the UK domestic maritime sector, including expanding the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) to domestic maritime from 2026. This will be a key policy in enabling the conditions for zero and near-zero emission vessels to be commercially viable, by applying a price to emissions, and incentivising the uptake of emissions reduction technologies.
In the coming months we will publish our response to the consultation on the technical details of including domestic maritime in the ETS, which will provide more certainty on the applicability of the scheme.
Further to this, we recently concluded a call for evidence on Net Zero Ports. It focused on port decarbonisation and zero emissions at berth, including questions on the barriers and opportunities of reducing emissions at berth and standing and transmission charges at ports. Our response to this call for evidence will follow in due course. We will continue to engage with Ofgem and other departments regarding the provision and use of electricity by ports and their users.
Asked by: Amanda Martin (Labour - Portsmouth North)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to his Department's document entitled Maritime Decarbonisation Strategy, published on 25 March 2025, when he will announce the outcome of the consultation on the application of the UK Emissions Trading Scheme to shipping operating in UK waters.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
A second, technical consultation on the expansion of the UK Emissions Trading Scheme to include the maritime sector closed in January 2025. The UK ETS Authority is currently analysing responses and finalising policy design for implementation. The consultation outlined that the scheme would apply to domestic voyages between UK ports, including voyages that begin and end in the same UK port. The Authority also proposed to include emissions at berth in UK ports (irrespective of whether a ship is undertaking a domestic or international voyage). We will publish the Authority Response to this consultation in due course.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking with the maritime sector to support the scale-up of green (a) fuels, (b) vessels and (c) shore power.
Answered by Mike Kane
In March 2025, we published the Maritime Decarbonisation Strategy (MDS), which sets out our pathway to net zero emissions in domestic maritime by 2050. This strategy includes key policies designed to encourage the uptake of green fuels, vessels, and shore power, directly supporting the UK's ambitious climate goals.
The MDS outlines five core policies: implementing fuel regulations internationally and domestically, introducing domestic greenhouse gas (GHG) pricing through the UK Emissions Trading Scheme, taking action on emissions at berth, reducing emissions from smaller vessels, and improving energy efficiency. Alongside the MDS, we also launched two vital calls for evidence to inform policy development: one focusing on small vessels and another on net zero ports.
My department is also driving research and development of the fuels and technologies necessary to decarbonise the sector through the UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions (UK SHORE). To date, UK SHORE has allocated over £200m of funding to over 150 projects, leveraging over £100 million in private investment. This benefits all 12 UK regions, supporting over 350 organisations, including more than 200 SMEs. A further £30m was allocated to the sixth round of Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition announced in January for FY 24/25. The winners of the competition will be announced soon.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with Swansea Council regarding the proposal to establish a car ferry between Swansea and south-west England; and what ports in England are being considered for such a project.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport has had no discussions with Swansea Council regarding the proposal to establish a car ferry between Swansea and south-west England.
The provision of maritime transport services is predominantly left to the commercial market, meaning the Department does not, as a matter of course, get involved in discussions around options for new routes or services. The establishment of the above-mentioned car ferry service is therefore a matter for the relevant local authorities, based on their transport priorities and budgets.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what volume of freight entered Britain from (1) Northern Ireland, and (2) the Republic of Ireland, in (a) the most recent year for which figures are available, (b) 2020, and (c) 2015; and what proportion of each of those figures was goods for onward transport to countries within the European Union.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport publishes Port Freight Statistics annually where the statistics are broken down by route. They show that in 2023 (latest data available), Great Britain imported 19.2m tonnes of goods from Northern Ireland through its maritime ports, and Great Britain imported 6.8m tonnes goods from the Republic of Ireland through its maritime ports.
The maritime freight from Northern Ireland to Great Britain and, from Republic of Ireland to Great Britain for 2020 and 2015 can be seen in table 1.
Table 1: Maritime freight from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to Great Britain in the years 2015, 2020 and 2023. (Source: Department for Transport)
Year | Northern Ireland – Great Britain (million tonnes) | Republic of Ireland – Great Britain (million tonnes) |
2015 | 15.4 | 7.2 |
2020 | 17.7 | 7.8 |
2023 | 19.2 | 6.8 |
For the time series back to 2000, please see the Department for Transport’s published tables, PORT0707 for Northern Ireland - Great Britain and PORT0499 for Republic of Ireland - Great Britain.
The Department for Transport (DfT) also publishes road freight statistics, which provides information about the domestic and international activity of British-registered and Northern Ireland-registered heavy good vehicles (HGVs). This excludes activity by foreign-registered HGVs and light good vehicles. This is collected by DfT road freight haulage surveys. Due to a methodology change in the data collection, domestic road freight statistics data before and after 2021 should not be compared.
For 2023 (latest figures), 2.2 million tonnes of goods were lifted by UK-registered vehicles between Great Britain and Northern Ireland and 0.5 million tonnes of goods were lifted by UK-registered vehicles between Great Britain and the Republican of Ireland. This is published in the domestic road freight statistics table RFS0130 and RFS0131. Please note, this refers to the volume lifted from and to, not just entering Great Britain.
The Department for Transport has not included aviation freight because these volumes are significantly lower than maritime and road freight (of the order of a few thousand tonnes).
The Department for Transport does not hold information on the proportion of the goods that were subsequently moved onwards to countries within the European Union.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department plans to expand the designation of vessels considered part of Russia’s shadow fleet.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Prime Minister has been clear that we must strengthen economic pressure on the Kremlin. The UK has led international efforts to disrupt Russia's shadow fleet, which it spent over $10 billion to purchase. We have sanctioned 129 oil tankers under this government with many ships left idling outside ports, costing Putin and his war effort millions in wasted funds. We have also spearheaded a 49-nation 'Call to Action' against the shadow fleet condemning the risks that it poses to the environment, maritime safety and security, and adherence to international maritime law. We do not comment on future designations as this could affect their impact.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to support (a) ports and (b) shipping companies to (i) cut emissions and (ii) transition to clean fuels.
Answered by Mike Kane
In March 2025, we published the Maritime Decarbonisation Strategy, setting out our plans for decarbonising the domestic maritime sector. Alongside the Strategy, we also published the Net Zero Ports call for evidence that explores the opportunities and barriers to reducing emissions at berth, with a focus on the role ports can play in enabling their tenants and the shipping sector to decarbonise. All policies will go through formal consultation before implementation, including with a formal consultation on fuel regulations next year.
The UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions (UK SHORE) programme in the Department for Transport provides Research and Development funding to accelerate the technologies necessary to decarbonise the UK maritime sector. Between April 2022 and March 2025, UK SHORE allocated over £200 million to more than 150 projects across the UK. In January 2025, UK SHORE announced a further £30 million funding for the current financial year (April 2025-March 2026) to continue to build on the success of UK SHORE.