Green Party Member of the European Parliament for the East of England Catherine Rowett will call for a reformed vision of the UK’s largest container port to deal with the challenges of Brexit and climate change, as she visits Felixstowe today.
Catherine Rowett MEP will be taken on a tour of Felixstowe by the port’s owner, Hutchinson Ports, learning about the port’s operation and how it is likely to be affected by Brexit. Currently Felixstowe is the eighth busiest container port in Europe, but business leaders have warned that a no deal Brexit could hit the port hard.
The Port of Felixstowe is also thought to be vulnerable to the effects of climate change, with the risk of storm surges, flooding, and power outages.
Catherine Rowett said, “Nearly 10,000 people depend for their livelihoods on the port of Felixstowe, but its future is uncertain in the context of both Brexit and climate change. We have to be prepared for change and I want to ensure that the future of the port and the region are sustainable.
“We also have to recognise that carbon emissions from shipping are still growing rapidly, just when we urgently need to cut the industry’s impact on the environment. I will be calling on the European Union to make shipping more sustainable, including harnessing new and old technologies, such as solar electricity and wind power, and I hope that these will be taken up by ships travelling to and from Felixstowe.”