It’s been a busy week in Westminster which has seen some positive announcements from the Chancellor for the UK shipping sector.

Tonnage Tax

The team at the Chamber were delighted to hear the Chancellor confirm there will be changes to the UK’s Tonnage Tax regime. Tonnage Tax has caused a renaissance in UK shipping activities since its introduction in 2000 and it was in urgent need of updating to respond to changing trends in shipping and to better protect and promote maritime UK and global Britain. We believe the package will immediately strengthen the UK Flag, encourage innovation in the offshore energy sector and attract international investment. The exact detail of what the new regime will involve is still to be worked out and the Chamber will be working closely with the Treasury and DfT over the coming months and will keep members regularly updated. Should you have any questions on Tonnage Tax please get in touch with Gavin Simmonds.

Decarbonisation investment

Also announced at the Budget was £300m of funding for research and development programmes to help commercialise low and zero emission technologies, as well as the extension of the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition. Whilst we don’t yet know the exact figure the shipping and maritime sector will receive, this overall commitment is great news for our industry. It is the first major funding announcing for the maritime sector to decarbonise and demonstrates the commitment of the UK government to tackle shipping emissions. We have long called for proper multi-year investment to tackle decarbonisation, and this is an important step on that journey.

We will remain in close contact with Ministers and civil servants over the coming weeks and will feedback to members once we have further information.

COP26

The eyes of the world will be trained on Glasgow for the next two weeks as the UN climate change conference gets under way. Myself, our President John Denholm, Peter Aylott our Director of Policy and members of the policy team will be in Glasgow taking part in events and continuing to push the case that shipping needs to move towards net zero by 2050. We are working closely with DfT ahead of the Transport day on 10^th November when we expect to see some shipping related announcements. These will be communicated to members when they have gone live.

Events

We formally confirmed plans for our Annual Dinner this week, with the event taking place on 7^th February. It will be held at a new venue, the JW Marriott Grosvenor House on Park Lane and you can book your ticket or your table now by contacting Donna Stevens. If you would like to discuss sponsorship opportunities, please email Tony Jerome.

Next week we have our Maritime Labour Convention Course which will give participants an introduction to the ILO Maritime Labour Convention. Members and non-members can book your ticket here.

The week after, on the 9^th of November we will be holding our Understanding Shipping Course. The day long course offers members and non-members an excellent introduction and re-cap into some of the biggest and most pressing policy issues facing our industry. If you haven’t booked your place yet, please head to our website and book your ticket now.

Sarah