This is the executive summary of ‘A Maritime Policy for Scotland’ which formed part of a report produced in 2017 for the SNP Westminster group of MPs. Its basis was to ensure Scotland developed national maritime infrastructure and shipping services with the aim to improve our international competitiveness and help double international trade in readiness for independence. A subsequent motion proposing that this Scottish Maritime Policy should be implemented by the SNP Scottish Government was passed by SNP conference in 2018 in Aberdeen. The scandal is, as with numerous other motions passed by SNP conferences, nothing has been done with it, it has never been implemented and there are no plans to do so. Scottish Government civil servants whose allegiance is to the UK have simply refused to have anything to do with it, and SNP Ministers and party managers have sat on their hands, ignoring the party’s members or the priorities of our nation. More evidence, if needed, that the SNP has no intention of delivering independence or preparing Scotland to be able to function as an independent trading nation.

A Maritime Policy for Scotland

Professor Alf Baird & Roy Pedersen

Scottish maritime activity today is a pale shadow of its former global dominance. Our docks, ports and shipping services are largely obsolete through lack of investment over many decades and our international trade flows are becoming ever weaker as the Scottish economy continues to lose competitiveness. Control and ownership of Scotland’s major central-belt ports relocated after privatisation in 1991 by the Thatcher Government, initially to the London Stock Exchange, and now disburse profits made in Scotland to private equity owners based in offshore tax havens. To make matters worse, a lack of modern port capacity means much of Scotland’s traded goods today must be sent to and from distant ports in England, raising costs further. Our commercial shipbuilding, what is left of it, is likewise not internationally competitive, whilst multiple maritime agencies remain fragmented and uncoordinated, inhibited by a mediocre meritocracy lacking in knowledge and vision.

There is however an opportunity for the Scottish Government to take leadership in making the radical changes necessary to develop new international trading links. Economic growth depends on expansion of trade, but increased trade, economic growth and a higher tax base will not (and cannot) occur in Scotland until we resolve the chronic crisis we have inherited that affects Scotland’s major ports and their relationship with other maritime service providers. There is a manifest need, therefore, to address these serious weaknesses by establishing a distinct Scottish Maritime Policy. As ports and several other maritime functions are devolved responsibilities, the Scottish Government, is free to formulate its own maritime transport and trade policy to improve Scotland’s wealth creating capacity from her very considerable strategic maritime resources.

In addressing these and other important issues we set out in this report how a Scottish Maritime Policy can and must be developed, with an institutional framework put in place, to blaze a new way forward and remove existing impediments to trade in the interest of developing Scotland’s capacity to prosper.

To undertake this vital task, we propose the creation of a well-resourced Scottish Maritime Administration (SMA), to deliver a Scottish Maritime Policy. In exercising its functions, the SMA will require wide-ranging discretionary powers, to take forward a number of strategic projects and schemes that come under the policy as highlighted and summarised below.

Scottish Maritime Policy will aim to exploit Scotland’s strategic maritime location to develop enhanced global maritime connections, modern port infrastructure, logistics, shipbuilding, and ship-repair, and maintain more effective regulation of the maritime industry, focussed on the national interest and better security of our maritime assets, ultimately to drive trade growth and hence deliver economic growth.

Maritime Connections will be enhanced by reinforcing Scotland’s global and European trading links. To achieve this aim the SMA will specify, promote and tender two major national strategic projects:

The rationale for these major projects is set out in the main body of the report. The capital costs of these initiatives will be paid for in the main by the new port lessees/operators as part of a state/private joint venture. And between them they would be expected to more than double Scotland’s current international trade, adding, between the two projects respectively, some £20 billion and £5-10 billion of goods value per annum, thereby giving a significant stimulus to the Scottish economy.

Other improvements should also be made to enhance the competitiveness of Cairnryan as gateway to Ireland, and development of a coastal MoS route should be explored with possible connections to Spain and France. Further evaluation of the deep-water site at Hunterston to be considered for different options, including as a deep-sea container port to serve UK and Irish markets, overcoming the tidal and depth restrictions of ports such as Liverpool.

In addressing Scottish domestic maritime connections, which are dominated by heavily subsidised ferry services, the SMA should seek to exploit more cost-effective and proven methods as commonly practiced in Scandinavia and elsewhere. Opportunities to develop urban passenger ferry services on Forth, Clyde and possibly the Tay should also be explored. The use of international tenders is expected to be the main mechanism employed to bring about investments in new maritime connections.

Maritime Infrastructure with the right facilities at the right locations, is a prerequisite for Scottish international trade to expand. The SMA should develop a strategy to ensure that scarce public resources are targeted toward providing properly regulated, strategic, major port infrastructure of national importance, whilst also ensuring internationally competitive port pricing. The two core ports identified, Scapa Flow (global connections) and Cockenzie (intra-European and coastal connections), that are fundamental to boosting Scottish trade and enhancing Scotland’s competitiveness internationally, need to be prioritized. These and other strategic port infrastructure can be developed via international tendering and concessions, led by the SMA.

The SMA should also identify minor ports that have some prospect for growth and investment in the public interest and develop a national strategy for the maritime leisure sector. It would make sense to include Scottish Canals’ responsibilities within the SMA.

Maritime Structuresthat is to say ships, are the vehicles that carry maritime trade. If commercial shipbuilding is to be re-invented in Scotland radical solutions will be necessary. The SMA should broker strategic alliances with internationally successful ship designers and hull suppliers by, for example, importing low-cost hull ‘kits’ from Asia for final assembly in Scotland, as has been proposed by major industry actors. The requirement for possibly as many as 100 new ferries in Scotland over the next 20 years (valued at £2 billion or more) should be used as a lever to help Scotland develop new global shipbuilding competitiveness, thereby also facilitating a more internationally competitive cost base for naval shipbuilding. These capabilities should also be used to plan and develop a naval fleet for an independent Scotland.

Improving Scotland’s ship repairing/refit capacity should be linked to a successful newbuilding strategy. Larger scale infrastructure is needed, as well as a lower cost base and related services for Scotland to be able to compete internationally. For the SMA to develop such a strategy, innovation will be necessary, such as access to major dry-docks as at Inchgreen, and large floating dry docks.

Maritime Regulation placed under the SMA’s control (and not private/corporate interests as at present), will strengthen overall port planning and development, (including dealing with existing unfair and exploitative monopoly practices), ensure public rights of navigation, open use of port facilities for trade, and provide for fairer competition within ports. The responsibilities and activities of the Northern Lighthouse Board should be also be brought within the SMA.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is a UK organisation and several of its functions pertain to nation state status. The Scottish Government should, however, seek by stages to transfer MCA functions, such as ship survey and certification, to the SMA. Once Scottish independence is achieved, however, the creation of a Scottish Ship Registry should be established under the auspices of the SMA with official re-adoption of the former Scottish ensign in use prior to the Union with England in 1707. The Scottish ferry fleet would be an early candidate for Scottish flagging.

It is recommended that the Scottish mercantile ensign be adopted as the logo of the SMA as a mark of intent towards future independent national status.

Maritime Organisations are many and varied in Scotland, many with regulatory powers, and the SMA should seek to reduce their number, and coordinate their activities and responsibilities. In addition, Scotland needs to build serious network linkages with supranational organisations and other global trading regions, through their hub ports and FTZ’s. Targeted ‘roadshow’ presentations of Scottish goods can be mounted by the SMA to include ‘floating’ sales and trade promotions on existing shipping corridors and vessels, whilst also promoting Scottish maritime expertise, infrastructure and connections/FTZ’s.

A developing maritime sector will need skilled personnel. The SMA should sponsor a Masters level course on Maritime Policy and Logistics, aimed at port, shipping and logistics managers and public officials working in the sector in various levels of government. There is also a need to focus on seafarer recruitment and training, more especially for those who are or will be employed in the maritime industry in Scotland. Training in seafaring will be enhanced by creation of a sail training scheme and construction and operation of a new blue water sail training vessel(s), with dual role including diplomatic functions and Scottish trade promotion overseas.

In conclusion, a well-honed Scottish Maritime Policy and vision as described and delivered by a well-resourced, pro-active, Scottish Maritime Administration will transform Scotland’s international trading potential (by £30+ billion) which will boost economic growth and in turn transform the nation’s international competitiveness and capacity to prosper. To some this may seem a radical solution, however, such a proactive national Maritime Administration and Maritime Policy represents the norm in most other countries. It should be borne in mind that without such a Maritime Policy to take forward stated priority initiatives, Scotland’s international trading potential will continue to be severely constrained, as it has been for some considerable time, and that consequently economic growth will continue to be held back. Scotland must seek to reorient trade away from a limited and restricted UK market and to internationalise, much as Ireland and many former UK territories and colonies had to do; this depends on a maritime policy as set out. This further suggests that the status quo is not an option worth contemplating.