In 2017 UK ports handled 482 million tonnes of cargo. 62% was imports.
Dover accounted for just 5.4% of this. EU trade accounted for 43% of the tonnage handled.
Dover Calais should work fine, but there are plenty of other options if the French change their mind and don’t want to keep the business.
68 Comments
Comments are closed.
November 10, 2018
Are you sure, JR? Please could you give the original data sources, because otherwise nobody will believe it … surely it is universally accepted that our economy is totally dependent upon the goods passing in and out of the country by that route, just as it is universally accepted that it would be a total catastrophe to leave the EU without a deal? Are you suggesting that BOTH of these universally accepted truths are canards?
November 10, 2018
It’s just awful really – I can’t believe that Raab can be so daft as not to research his brief properly. Either he is a bit dim or he is deliberately playing dim to sell his duff deal to anyone daft enough to listen. Maybe he has been promised a big job, betraying his cause for a mess of pottage
I have given up going over the same old ground we have talked about in respect of imports/exports, where most of our comes from, either inter or extra EU.
We have such a useless, incompetent set of individuals pretending to represent our best interests.
zorro
November 10, 2018
Denis
I posted the links to this two days ago , I understand you are being sarcastic
November 11, 2018
I find a comment from you on:
http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2018/11/08/memo-to-dominic-raab/#comments
but no links as such
November 11, 2018
If its important I’ll dig out the link , I posted it a couple of times
November 11, 2018
Denis
Here it is the numbers are on page 5
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/739789/port-freight-statistics-2017.pdf
November 12, 2018
Thanks, duly filed away for future use which I’m sure will become necessary. Because as I have read around the internet few people know this and many of the rest will need convincing with hard evidence not just counter-assertion.
November 10, 2018
The sources are on the ONS website.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/port-freight-statistics-2017-final-figures
Of the figures quoted, about half of the imports are oil, liquefied gas, coal and energy imports coming into Immingham, Grimsby, Tilbury and Southampton.
If you look at imports coming in by lorry, just over half enter at Dover. The next busiest after Dover are Liverpool and Holyhead, but each of those is only just over a tenth as busy.
Other ports tend to be set up differently – for example, Felixstowe is busy, but for container shipping rather than lorries.
November 11, 2018
Indeed a few more canards:-
Run away global warming will be caused by small man made increases in atmospheric Co2
Extreme weather events are now more common and more dangerous.
Global warming is the greatest risk to mankind and the World.
The NHS is the envy of the World.
Increasing government spending generally helps the economy, improves “public services” and creates net jobs.
Excessive red tape is good for standards and our ability to compete.
HS2/Hinkley C are sensible investments.
Before the NHS there was no health care.
Before state schools there were no schools or education.
Governments spend & “invest” money well and far better than the people whom they have take it off in the first place.
Positive discrimination is not just another form of discrimination,
The BBC is “balanced” in its news coverage, there is a gender pay gap (other than one due to the sensible choices the genders take on average).
Theresa May is a Conservative, an excellent negotiator and a huge electoral asset. Philip Hammond is Conservative and a competent chancellor.
All immigration is good for the economy (some clearly is some is a large net liability).
The UK had control of its borders while in the EU by being out of Schengen.
David Cameron was a cast iron EUsceptic, low tax at heart conservative.
John Major is a wise and genuine elder statesman.
Having places funded (at say Cambridge) that are only available to Black students, or preferential engineering places for women with lower entry standards than the men is not blatant discrimination …..
Being stabbed because you are white, old, disabled or of a particular faith is far worse than just being stabbed for any other reason.
A criminal justice with no real deterrents is a great idea.
November 13, 2018
LL
On the health service prior to NHS
There were actually MORE hospitals in UK than the NHS now operate and most of them were free to use as they were operated by local councils , charities and the church
November 11, 2018
I am waiting for the day when Denis wakes up and realises he has been sold a very large “pig in a poke” by the ERG 51-65, Mogglodytes. If the latter win the “meaningful vote”, make sure your capital assets are in currencies other than Sterling.
November 10, 2018
There are plenty of much more smaller ports in the UK which could also be expanded to share the load both in and out. Ramsgate in Kent could be one of those.
Also smaller airports could be expanded for Cargo, again there are a number in Kent and the surrounding Counties.
The more we spread the load, the less the chance of disruption and congestion in one area.
I was absolutely amazed at Mr Raab’s comments, just shows how out of touch some of our Mp’s are with regards to the normal factors of life and business.
Has he never crossed the Channel by car or rail, on ferry or tunnel ?
Has he never visited our coastal Towns or driven past smaller airports ?
November 10, 2018
Alan Jusron, There are also plenty of ports larger than Dover, though some are lift on/off focussed rather than rollon. It cheered me up that even Singapore (https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/englands-northern-ports-look-to-prosper-from-brexit) news reports the rebalancing and trade growth of UK northern ports following Brexit (if/when). It saddens me that the PM no longer cares about the Midlands nd North, only her continuing London-SE-EU focus.
November 10, 2018
Agreed. Six months ago: āThe new chairman of the UKās Major Ports Groups, Charles Hammond, said: āAs an industry, weāre ready and preparedā. The chairman said that UK ports are doing a lot to prepare for Brexit by investing in inspection facilities and more warehouses so that food can be checked before it enters the UK.ā https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/958788/Brexit-news-ports-charles-hammond-ready-for-Brexit-EU-updates https://www.ft.com/content/e2e72794-550d-11e8-b24e-cad6aa67e23e
Ports want to retain market share. āRotterdam faces constant challenges… āWeāll deal with it.ā On Tuesday senior officials from Calais and Zeebrugge delivered a similar message to the Treasury Select Committeeā https://www.conservativehome.com/thecolumnists/2018/06/syed-kamall-europes-biggest-ports-are-being-refreshingly-practical-about-brexit.html
French & Belgian trade surpluses on food to the UK is an incentive for cross-channel maxfac to run smoothly.
The EU27 member states are responsible for applying WTO rules facilitating trade. They have been hiring customs staff (eg Rotterdam, Antwerp); and liaising with UK eg Poland https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-press-statement-in-poland-21-december-2017
November 10, 2018
Stansted Airport already takes cargo planes, although most people just think of it as a ‘Majorca, here we come’ hub. Ports not only have to be big enough, landwise, but also have the depth to take the biggest container ships.
November 10, 2018
Ramsgate has a tunnel to France?
November 11, 2018
Philip
Ramsgate once had thriving port until the EU put a stop to it. Insisting on the transport of live animals for slaughter
Just so you know the Channel Tunnel is around 20 miles from Ramsgate
November 12, 2018
“Ramsgate is poised to become a key British port post-Brexit … Ā£200m has been ear-marked for a massive expansion which would revolutionise the town. … to bypass the Dover-Calais crossing route in the case of a no-deal scenario and immediate checks on freight and lorries crossing the Strait of Dover.” https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1044080/Brexit-news-chris-grayling-dover-calais-ramsgate-english-channel-crossing-no-deal https://www.ft.com/content/afd66e1c-e380-11e8-a6e5-792428919cee
November 10, 2018
The UK is not leaving the EU in March 2019. Please stop presenting these articles as though our departure is a fait accompli and a given
I know, and indeed we all know, that May’s intention is to keep the UK tied to the EU in many ways. ECJ jurisdiction. No free-trade deals with free nations.
People want the truth. They want transparency and they yearn for clarity.
Reply WQe have legislated to leave next March and that is what we will do unless Parliament passes new legislation to repeal that and slow down or prevent our exit. I and others would vote against any such measures
November 10, 2018
Reply to JR
Mr Redwood, that may be the case, but the fact is that the conservatives under Theresa May have destroyed our trust.
We have a PM going about making capitulations in secret as if she has divine blessing to do as she pleases with our sovereignty and not have to explain herself.
Because of this woman, whom we said was to be removed, your party will not see power after the next general election. Nobody, is ever going to trust the conservatives again due to this, the biggest betrayal in history.
November 10, 2018
Gerard Batten tweeted the following earlier:
Although the EU Withdrawal Act says Exit Day is 29th March the Regulation required to enact it in law has not yet been enacted by the Minister. This is odd since other provisions in the Act that would allow Exit Day to be delayed have been so enacted.
Could this stop the UK leaving next March?
November 10, 2018
The pressure to delay the implementation will grow if an agreement is not reached by then (March 2019). If May is still PM she would surely push for that, play for time and continue to kick the can down the road. The key question is how long will she command the confidence of a majority of Conservative MPs and remain in office to pursue such a course? With the Remainer Jo Johnson resignation and sharp criticisms of her wished for deal I assume her survival chances must be reduced.
November 10, 2018
Interesting article by Janet Daley in the Telegraph today. I think she’s bang on about the underlying reasons for why the ‘elites’ have resorted increasingly to global-style governance and why they are so hell-bent on by-passing the democratic will of the people. However, she chimes with Duncan by being hugely pessimistic about our prospects of leaving the EU. I hope she’s wrong, or the Conservative party deserves to be consigned to the history books. The anger out there is palpable !
November 10, 2018
Good afternoon,
For those of us of a certain age, with this piece of advice in mind, these Brexit negotiations are appearing more and more like a Brian Rix farce. No doubt there’ll be a senior cabinet minister running on stage with his trousers round his ankles at an appropriate time….
Could it get more ridiculous?
November 10, 2018
No no Peter, Mrs May turns out to be a great politician after all. She has done the impossible and united Leavers and Remainers, Labour and Tory, in common contempt for her proposals. Next stop WTO, then the open ocean, the tax race to the bottom, boundless prosperity and the renewed admiration of a marvelling world at the unfathomable political genius of these foggy, soggy little islands.
And for the great master stateswoman herself, a peerage and the Garter. Richly deserved, say I.
November 10, 2018
Peter Wood
“senior cabinet minister running on stage with his trousers round his ankles at an appropriate timeā¦.”
Then assume he’d had a smacked bottom for Chequers non-compliance.
“Could it get more ridiculous?”
Yep.
November 10, 2018
Yes, I think the French have had enough of UK trucks trundling through their towns and roads with all of the resultant noise, pollution and migrant problems it brings. Reading in a Brussels Mag recently where it said that the average Calais people will be quite happy to see more trade going to Antwerp and Rotterdam via Felixstowe rather than the channel ports
November 10, 2018
HenryS
They collect substantial money from toll charges, lorries run more efficiently when running at a constant speed, which is more possible on their motorway network system than it is here in the UK.
November 10, 2018
HenryS
Oh my word what a deluded post
Yeh the people of Calais area are really fed up with having paid jobs,
The bulk of our trade already goes from Felixstowe, Grangemouth, Tilbury Southampton and Grimsby
November 11, 2018
and the bulk of the lorries transport from the uk is actually foreign owned!
November 11, 2018
gordon winton
Yes indeed, you are correct
November 10, 2018
John do you know if container trains using the Channel Tunnel are ever stopped for customs checks at Coquelles or Folkestone or are they the best advertisement of pre-authorised, electronically manifested cargo?
If there are presently no stoppages, that could/should continue to be the case and the containers can bring in all we need from the wider EU and beyond, for distribution onto road transport at inter-modal terminals like DIRFT near Rugby rather than have queues of lorries at Dover.
Rail and Sea container traffic is already huge at Teesport, Liverpool, Felixstowe and Southampton so surely this is the mode of choice for the future?
Reply As you say most of this is sorted out before the border and covered by pre registration of the container and cargo. There is all the time of the sea or tunnel journey to random check or apprehend rogue consignments if needed.
November 10, 2018
Ships like aircraft have for years used transponders so they may be tracked – and any unscheduled course or stops are captured and authorities notified. These systems that the EU say are fantasy already exist and perhaps the EU need to live in the real world.
November 10, 2018
Mike P
The French operate Centralized customs clearance with consolidate reporting formalities at a single office even though the physical flow of goods are routed through different border points. . Based on computerized tools, this measure provides real-time information exchange between Customs and operators.
They have developed a National Single Window GUN ( Guichet Unique National ) system. Its even available to operators as an app
Suspicious loads are inspected both onboard ship and at the port of entry. Less than 3% of traffic is ever stopped and checked
November 10, 2018
Jo Johnson has obviously burnt all his bridges with both Remainers and Leavers in the party in the way he has framed his resignation.
To effectively call for a new referendum with three possible answers is ludicrous.
He is right about the Chequers deal, though. It is worse than leaving without a deal or staying in.
It seems to have no chance of getting through the house but the mystery is, why is May still pushing for it ?
Do you have any idea why ??
Reply She has chosen Robbins as her adviser/negotiator and seems to believe in his advice. She rebuts any criticism of her team and seems unable to think they might be wrong. She does not seem to trust her Brexit Secretaries, though these are the people MPs have access to.
November 10, 2018
Three options.
The idea is to make The People think that the Remain we are getting was their idea.
The answer is simple.
Defy the referendum and get the ERG/1922 Committee members to tell the people to accept it.
I want (at the very least) a historical note which says that the EU was not wanted.
November 10, 2018
Reply -Reply
Thank you for that reply John, so it is as we have all guessed, an inside job with no real consultation on any other way forward.
What a very silly and almost childish strategy to employ, when Robbins and May have had no commercial/business/negotiation experience between them at all !
No wonder we are where were are, simply amazing she has been allowed to get this far without being challenged properly.
I often wonder perhaps what role/advice her husband has in this debacle as well.
November 10, 2018
I think Labour might abstain at the last minute, with some of them voting for and some against Brino. That way they will obfuscate the issue and the blame for Brino will fall on the Tories. I wonder whether Gove is right and we can escape Brino post March 19?
November 10, 2018
JR, so if you are correct why is she still in post?
November 11, 2018
Why indeed? This especially all her economic, health, business, policing, tax, over regulation, gender pay, climate alarmism, her chancellor and her other agendas are wrong headed too. Plus she is a massive electoral liability.
November 10, 2018
There is a very obvious reason why another referendum will never be allowed by May and fellow Remainers and pretend Leavers – they would have to campaign for Remain and expose how ludicrous it is having the current four lead officers of state in charge.
November 10, 2018
It’s a great pity that she’s also paid no attention at all to the long succession of very helpful letters that I’ve had printed in our local paper over many months; not even the one at the end of June which I copied direct to her, as one of her constituents, and which elicited this response from her assistant:
“Theresa is grateful that you have taken the time to forward your thoughts and she has taken them on board.”
Which was clearly untrue, as she just carried on in the same nonsensical way.
That particular missive offered a draft of a letter for her to send to Leo Varadkar, basically a slightly compressed version of the one reproduced here:
http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2018/06/29/what-is-the-uks-worst-nationalised-industry/#comment-943683
“Dear Leo
This is to let you know that we definitely do not intend to make any changes at all to the land border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic … ”
Whereupon stred offered a more amusing alternative letter including:
“There is, therefore, a danger that along the long 300 mile border, smugglers will be able to endanger Irish citizens by selling full power Henrys and Dysons or American chickens to unscrupulous traders.”
and ending:
“Yours ever subserviently,
Theresa”.
You have to laugh, rather than risk breaking down and weeping.
November 10, 2018
ChrisS, expect the ERG 62 (51 to 65 at the limits) to fold (in Poker terms) about three hours before the “meaningful vote” on the Withdrawal Agreement. Conservative Central Office will be having “conversations” with Tory Constituency Party Chairmen, about the future of there old incumbent Brexiteer MPs. They may casually mention some bright young replacement, who is more aligned to the 21st Century Conservative Party ideology.
November 12, 2018
acorn
Trouble with THAT scenario is that the bright young lefty tory will actually need the staunch leave Tory voters to elect her/him and that won’t be happening. We now have a fundamental shift in British politics away from left/right to In/Out
November 10, 2018
Thank you John for that candid response. Itās what we all know. Iām interested to know if she ever reads papers or social media or has anyone doing it for her. Her plan is the least favoured option on both sides of the debate. Surely she must know this? No one could be so ignorant and arrogant.
OT – great to see sports players and fans united in remembrance of the sacrifices made by the people of the (now) commonwealth this weekend. True friends.
November 10, 2018
Yes, they can – may I introduce you to T May, currently PM and First Lord of the Treasury, and absolutely, completely and totally out of her depth. Unable, as John confirms, to deal with any alternative views or criticism or take responsibility for any decisions she may have made as Home Secretary which have rebounded spectacularly. So thin-skinned, that she runs for the hills of blaming sexism, picking on her for not having children or any other reason to avoid dealing with criticism. She also has a very dangerous, PC, proto-Marxist sense of morality which has a nasty streak of authoritarianism, Unchecked, a very dangerous person….
zorro
November 10, 2018
This is the puzzle that has confounded me. Is Mrs May out of her depth and clings to her adviser for comfort or is she more devious than we give her credit for. When she made her Lancaster House speech her close advisers were Fiona Hill and Nick Timothy. Now it’s Olly Robbins. It does suggest that the adviser makes the difference.
November 11, 2018
Out of her depth.
Can’t see the wood for the trees, because in geography world, memory is everything and perspective and imagination are nothing.
Alternatively if you were to assume devious, she’s no good at that either.
November 10, 2018
Dear Mr. Redwood,
Reply to Your Reply to ChrisS
She also wilfully ignores the votes of 17.4 million people who are unlikely to be very forgiving should she get her deal through the House.
Alan Joyce
November 10, 2018
It’s very naĆÆve to be so trusting of others all the time. The EU hasn’t behaved as it should have done through the period since Article 50 was triggered, why assume all will be well. If we are preparing for the WTO option as we ought, we should also be preparing defensive plans, along with retaliation, if action is taken against us. Rolling over and being ‘nice’ is no good.
May has, and continues to conspire in our humiliation, and it remains sickening that Tory MPs are incapable of ‘manning up’ to get rid of her, when the country desperately needs a new leader. I would venture that anyone will be better and safer for us than she.
November 10, 2018
Excellent information, you are revealing the difference between people who have worked in business, where presenting well researched numbers is crucial to keeping your job and developing a company. Whereas government/civil service routinely get facts wrong without consequence. One day the edifice will probably collapse because the tax base cannot /will not stand it, then there will be real austerity.
May or Corbyn both represent an equal threat to this country’s well being in my view.
November 10, 2018
Politicians so often have no interest in facts or what actually works. They are interested in saying whatever they think will win them votes. Appeals to moronic raw emotion often the best way to do this. Seen hugely with the climate alarmist religion. This seen hugely with the appalling Corbyn. He has his I will rob landlords and give to tenants agenda (more tenants than landlords of course), his I will write off your student loans, I will increase you wages, I will make you and your girl friend more attractive, pay everyone in the state sector more, give you all a cheap house, make the NHS work…….. all paid for from the magic money tree or from taxes on the top 5% who will have all left.
November 11, 2018
Exactly. No company director would get away with making an impassioned speech to the board and then not have any figures to back it up. A lot of politicians seem to think that forms of words are the answer to everything, which ( in the case of arts graduates who predominate in politics ) is probably their life experience.
Most of what is said in the media about Brexit – or indeed about anything – is opinion. Hard facts and figures are few and far between. I have yet to see the BBC come up with the sort of programme you see in other countries with a mass of detailed charts and statistics to make an argument.
November 10, 2018
It’s all in the Clegg/ Cameron/ Blair/ May/ civil service/ Commission reverse plan. There is always a second referendum which, of course, will be rigged. Stage 1. Avoid plans to leave without a deal on WTO rules. Stage 2. Arrange for the deal to be worse than leaving. Stage 3. Get both sides to agree that it is so bad that we need a second referendum, sold as ‘The People’s Choice’ with a well financed and coordinated PR campaign. Stage 4. Change the rules by allowing 16 year olds and EU citizens to vote and split the leave vote between a choice of May’s capitulation or no deal/ no preparations.
We need to bring back capital punishment for treason.
November 12, 2018
Oops. Should have been worse than staying. The BBC seems to be building up the only way out of this impossible crisis being a people’s second vote, as WTO is unthinkable. Maybe the French should cancel their new Renault factory in Morocco.
November 10, 2018
I’ve just read this article in the Irish Times:
https://www.irishtimes.com/business/food-sector-to-be-adversely-affected-by-brexit-impact-on-uk-landbridge-1.3692515
“Food sector to be āadversely affectedā by Brexit impact on UK ālandbridgeā”
It seems a bit odd to me that despite being arrogant Brits I don’t think we would usually dismiss our neighbour France as just a useful ‘landbridge’ to Italy, say; and I don’t think we would say that this ‘landbridge’ which is of strategic importance for major sectors of our economy “uses French roads and ports”:
“The landbridge, which uses UK roads and ports to move goods … ”
Still, if that is indeed the arrogant and purely mercenary Irish attitude I think we should check whether we are charging them enough for the use of our roads:
“The report finds that the landbridge is used to transport about three million tonnes of goods, one million tonnes of imports and two million of exports. The value of goods on the landbridge was ā¬21 billion in 2016, of which 84 per cent passed through Dublin Port.
About 150,000 Irish lorries, heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) and other vehicles use the route every year, or 16 per cent of āro-roā traffic passing between Ireland and Britain. Almost 40 per cent of goods, approximately two million tonnes, exported from Ireland to continental Europe are transported over the landbridge.”
Oh, and here’s a gem from an agency of the same Irish government which has explicitly rejected the use of any technology at the land border with Northern Ireland:
“The IMDO, a Government agency, recommends that, were Brexit to re-introduce border and customs controls, the Government should use technology and additional resources to minimise the burden on industry.”
November 11, 2018
Good find.
So at 26.5 mtrs long plus say 8.5 mtrs gap X 500 lorries a day we have a queue 17.5 km long of lorries bunging up our South East traffic and wrecking our roads every day using our land bridge. Looking forward to no deal more already.
November 10, 2018
I have to laugh at the Minister of Transport telling us – as he resigns – that he is aware of how unready the government is for the transport implications of the no deal that has been obviously on the cards for more than two years.
Nobody seems to have asked Johnson yet how he justifies his self-confessed incompetence and idleness, and that of his civil servants, and why it should make us take anything else he says seriously.
November 11, 2018
Yes he’s had 2 and a half years…
November 10, 2018
Have the Remainers shot themselves in the foot?
I think it is highly unlikely that a second referendum will take place.
However, here is a thought, about the current circumstances surrounding the second referendum situation.
Funds have been donated to Best for Britain/Peoplesā Vote, since early 2018, from outside the UK, to get the Brexit vote overturned and to force a second referendum.
A march was organised to campaign for a second referendum but also, crucially, to push forward the cause of remaining in the EU. 750,000 people marched according to the organisers so there was a great pro-Remain influence cascading from the foreign funded march.
We saw banners, and much Press coverage of the pro-EU cause. Not just requesting a second referendum but also pushing to Remain in the EU.
It is in the public domain and openly admitted that foreign funds were accepted by Remain campaigners.
By accepting foreign funds, of at least Ā£500,000, and using them to influence opinion against Brexit, does that mean that a second referendum has been so prejudiced and unduly influenced by foreign funds, towards Remain, that it cannot take place in the foreseeable future?
We could be talking up to 5 years + before the influence of the Remain foreign funds, starts to disappear from the public consciousness. Brexit should have been achieved long before then.
I thought that UK electoral law bans foreign donations, in the run-up to elections or referendums?
If that is true, then a second referendum could not legally take place any time soon.
Any thoughts on this, please?
November 10, 2018
I hear rumours of a snap election, possibly precipitated by forthcoming revelations regarding the Government’s role in spying on Candidate and President Trump.
The Conservatives will not win under May; they will face defeat. Liberals are now canvassing with all mention of Brexit dropped.
The Conservatives can only win under a new “No Deal” Leader.
There is a limit to the amount of betrayal the people will accept, and we have reached it.
November 11, 2018
You are correct. I believe the Tories with a leader that is pro-UK and Eurosceptic would crush Labour in its heartlands if that leader campaigned on a platform of reasserting British sovereignty and nationhood
It still defies belief that the hopeless, irresolute Tories (present company and others excepted) are still vacillating over getting rid of this grotesque socialist bigot that leads our party at present
November 10, 2018
Mr Redwood,
What are you trying to say here? That the ports of Calais/Dover are not important (relatively)? . Of course with the tunnel nearby, the ports are not the main thing.
It is not ver productive to look at transport statistics between EU and UK without further information.
For instance, A cargo of crude oil from the Middle east could go to Rotterdam, and be stranshipped to a refinery port in the UK. Ownership could change en route, at transshipment, with opportunities for tax planning. Eeventually the crude may end up in Teesside. Alternatlively it might have run through a refibery in Rotterdam amd be sent to the UK as product, with different tax opportunities.
I am mentioning tis that there is an importnat distinction between goods that trade at world market prices, within oil, grain or mining companies that hit the trade statistics without any meaning as to international competitiveness. I suspect that there is a lot of commodity trade ( kept in bond despite transshipment on EU27 territory) that may not have EU origin and trade with an apparent EU origin that came in a container from China (to the Maersk mega terminal in Rotterdam), underwent some pro forma value addition (with tax consequences again) and was stowed back in the same container or a trailer and shipped to a UK port.
Lesson: trade statistics between members of a customs union are difficult to interpret.
November 12, 2018
Rien
Nope, read the links theres a full breakdown of import/export of various and all commodities
Once again it turns out that the Remainers have been talking an absolute crock .
Its what happens when you have people who know nothing about the subject pontificating on why it won’t work etc
I loved that you tried really really hard to find some reasons to deny that Dover/Calais is a tiny part of export/import. However you went and proved it yourself. Dover is a RoRo port and the vast majority of goods are transported by container or tanker neither of which use Dover or the Tunnel
November 11, 2018
More to the point, what percentage of Republic of Ireland (ROI) Imports and Exports is dependent on trading with the UK or trading with the remaining EU via the UK’s ports?
In the latter instance the goods have to come into one West Coast British Port and then go out again via South or East Coast one. And vice versa.
I don’t have a figure, but I would say nearly all of it.
And what other choices does the ROI have to export to and import its’ goods from anywhere? They have no ferry services capable of transporting large amounts of goods to and from any ports other than the UK.
Varadkar has big mouth for someone wholly dependent on Britain for trade, and upon the EU maintaining Trade links with him via the UK.
November 11, 2018
Any one travelling to the north and north west of Cambridge beyond Girton will see the massive road works on the A14. Far bigger than Birmingham’s Spaghetti Junction, the improvement is in effect the southern boundary of the Northern Powerhouse.
.
The post-Brexit growth of the country’s world trade will boost still further the importance of the East Anglian ports and the A14 is the main route connecting those ports to the north and the west of the country.
The future development of the Oxford-Cambridge corridor is another reason why the importance of the Dover-Calais connections will decline, relatively, over the thirty years.
Fascinating developments will follow Brexit and the sooner they happen the better!
November 11, 2018
You still don’t understand..mrs May can’t lose..if she gets a deal then well done..if we don’t get a deal then she is only delivering what the people voted for. None of this makes any difference to Mr Raab stance on anything.
November 11, 2018
Not if it’s a bad deal or she’s not sufficient ly prepared for no deal. Either will see her gone and Tories toast.