Weekly Snapshot

New Year Delays, Scottish Maritime Waves, and Trump’s Dance Craze

As we cross the midpoint of January, with New Year’s Day already feeling like a distant memory, one unique celebration stands out this week. On the Shetland island of Foula, the residents rang in their New Year on January 13th, in keeping with the Julian Calendar. With only 35 people living on the island, it’s safe to say it’s still perfectly acceptable to greet each other with a hearty “Happy New Year!”

This week, we were in Edinburgh to host our first event of the year; the Scottish Parliamentary Maritime Reception, held in collaboration with the UK Chamber of Shipping at Holyrood with a record attendance of 250 guests.

Among the distinguished speakers were Sinclair Browne, Chair of the Scottish Ports Group and Chief Executive of the Port of Inverness and the Scottish Transport Cabinet Secretary Fiona Hyslop MSP. It was a fantastic opportunity to discuss key maritime issues, including cautious approaches to a cruise levy and the need for greater focus on planning. For a detailed overview, you can read more about the event here: Scottish Ports Urge Caution on Cruise Levy and Greater Focus on Planning.

Also many thanks to our maritime colleagues at Royal HaskoningDHV who kindly sponsored a group dinner for members of the Scottish Ports Group after the reception. A very enjoyable evening.

Meanwhile, as global attention shifts to America for the upcoming Presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, the conversation at BPA towers quickly turned to one curious aspect of the ceremony; namely the musical performances. Artists like Kid Rock, Billy Ray Cyrus, Jason Aldean, Rascal Flatts, and Gavin DeGraw are set to take the stage, alongside The Village People performing their iconic hit, YMCA. While TikTok trends dominate modern music culture, it seems unlikely Trump’s signature arm dance will spark a viral trend given the app’s U.S. ban. Regardless, his musical line-up promises to set the tone for what could be a lively four years ahead.

Wishing you all a lovely weekend!

Shenaz

British Ports Association

Next Round of Clean Maritime Funding Announced

This week the Department for Transport  announced £30m of additional funding for the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition (CMDC). This new, sixth round, will allocate up to £30m for pre-deployment trials and feasibility studies in clean maritime solutions between September 2025 and March 2026. 

Innovate UK will open this new round of the CMDC on 24 January and the application window will close on 16 April 2025.

As far as we can tell, this £30m seems to be additional money allocated to the DfT's UK SHORE (UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions) programme, taking its total budget since it was established in 2022 to £236m. The Government will decide on longer term spending limits for DfT and other departments later this year in the second phase of its Spending Review.

Additional funds for UK SHORE and the CMDC were one of the BPA's asks in our 2024 Budget submission and will form part of our input into phase two of the spending review.

Finally for those interested there is a Innovate UK conference on The Future of UK SHORE: Shaping the Future of Maritime, on 27 January.

Defra notice for importers on Foot and Mouth Disease

Also this week, Defra shared an important message regarding the spread of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in Germany. Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) has suspended the import of the following commodities from Germany, following an outbreak of FMD that was confirmed on 10 January 2025:

• live (including non-domestic) ungulates (ruminants and porcine animals, including wild game) and their germplasm
• fresh meat from ungulates
• meat products from ungulates that have not been subject to specific treatment D1 or higher (including wild game)
• milk, colostrum and their products, unless subjected to treatment as defined in Article 4 of Regulation 2010/605
• animal by-products, unless treated to effectively mitigate the risk of FMD
• Certain unpackaged meats and untreated animal hair, fur and wools.

Where goods are currently being held at the GB border due to the FMD outbreak in Germany, Port Health Authorities and Local Authorities can support businesses to return goods to Germany, with agreement of the veterinary authorities in the EU, using standard processes. Specialist bins are being used t ports and airports.

Where such products have recently arrived in GB and the EHC was signed in good faith before the presence of FMD in Germany was confirmed, businesses are being urged not to put this product into the GB supply chain.  

Further information is available here and through this map or list.

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