01 August 2022
Claudio Veritiero, CEO, Peel Ports Group
I have been heartened by the commonality of purpose and determination across the bid, which includes AGS Airports’ Glasgow Airport, Mossend International Railfreight Park in North Lanarkshire and a partnership of the Glasgow City Region councils.
It’s arguable that our bid, more than any other, has the potential to lift huge swathes of population towards strong economic contribution and raising living standards. It’s estimated that the Clyde Green Freeport will contribute an uplift of £18 billion (gross value added) by 2034 and create around 30,000 new jobs whilst developing global trading opportunities and taking the region’s world class innovation economy to new heights.
Clydeport is home to a cluster of leading maritime facilities including Greenock Ocean Terminal and Inchgreen drydock in Inverclyde, and King George V port in central Glasgow. Our sites are creating opportunities and jobs that will benefit people, businesses and communities across Scotland while boosting the wider economy. No more is this evidenced by our recent investments at Greenock and our plans to invest further in new cranes at the terminal.
Clydeport also recently announced the commencement of the first-ever direct container shipping service connecting China and Scotland, and the improved connectivity of a west-coast greenport will open up new gateways.
As a ports group with a strong heritage in Scotland, we have a key role to play in Scotland’s economic growth and its energy transition.
Research by Maritime UK shows that the port sector creates an extra £2.67 to the economy for every £1 it directly produces, and this contributes to an estimated total of £29 billion to the wider UK economy.
Peel Ports is committed to becoming more sustainable and last year announced plans to become a net zero port operator by 2040, five years ahead of the Scottish Government’s national decarbonising targets.
Given all of these factors and the multimodal partnership between the public and private sectors, I believe there is a compelling case for the Clyde Green Freeport region bid to be successful.