Comres News

The UK Chamber of Shipping has contacted over 800 parliamentary candidates from around the country, asking them to back its campaign for enhanced support for maritime training. The proposal, called SMarT Plus, would see a doubling in government support to GBP 30 million a year. In return, many leading shipowners will increase the number of seafarers they train and guarantee them their first job. The benefits of this would be significant: British seafarers are among the most productive workers in the UK economy, contributing GBP 17,500 per year more to UK GDP than the average worker. According to the government’s own figures, the UK economy gets GBP5 back for every GBP1 invested in maritime training.

UK politicians and the general public have demonstrated overwhelmingly that they recognize shipping as the biggest mover of the nation’s imports and exports, according to a new study commissioned by the UK Chamber of Shipping. Guy Platten, CEO of the UK Chamber of Shipping, said of the study: “The findings confirm that we can forget about so-called ‘seablindness’ – it just does not exist. Leading pollster Comres surveyed 2,026 members of the British public and 127 UK MPs during the first four months of this year. Respondents were asked to name the mode of transport that carries the largest proportion of import and export cargo to/from the UK.