National Policy Statement for Ports

Lord Moynihan Excerpts

Tuesday 14th October 2025 Grand Committee

[Lord Moynihan (Con)]

My Lords, I welcome this debate and the initiative the Government have offered us in extending, in many respects, the public consultation that ended in July this year, on which your Lordships’ views, as we have heard from the Minister, will be taken into account. In the absence of a single ports Bill, a revised national policy statement for ports, while welcome, is a good first step but needs to be turbocharged with a business strategy to encourage investment, create jobs and encourage a competitive response to bring shipping to our ports. All the people working in those ports demand first-class facilities, excellent operations and competitive pricing.

I intend to focus on one aspect of the consultation. One of the implications of the regulations that we increasingly have to follow is the need for fast charging facilities, which do not figure sufficiently in the proposal we are considering today. EU rules, which require major ports to provide shoreside electricity for large passenger and container ships by 2030, aim to cut emissions and support maritime decarbonisation goals. The move towards battery-driven container shipping is accelerating but remains concentrated in certain vessel types and regions, with full-scale adoption for large ocean-going container ships still in its early stage. As of 2025, more than 1,000 vessels worldwide use large battery systems for propulsion, either fully electric or hybrid, with about 550 more on order, representing a dramatic increase from just a few dozen ships a decade ago.

However, most of those are ferries, offshore supply vessels and smaller cargo ships. Container ships are just beginning to see commercial-scale battery adoption. In a long-term strategy document of this type, it is vital that the Government are ahead of the game and creating economic growth in this sector. Today, fast charging infrastructure at UK ports is in its early infancy, with significant pilot projects and investments under way but not yet widespread or universally available. I urge the Government to give this subject greater consideration.

The UK’s first major shore-power cold ironing and electric ship charging project is under way at Heysham Port. Cold ironing is the process of supplying a docked ship with electricity from an onshore power grid, which allows the ship to shut down its auxiliary engines and reduce emissions, noise and vibrations. The work at Heysham is part of a broader plan to create green shipping corridors across the Irish Sea, supporting shore power for conventional ships and fast charging for future fully electric vehicles. This includes the eight-port network. Peel Ports Group and NatPower Marine are investing some £100 million to equip eight key UK and Ireland ports with charging infrastructure by 2030, with Heysham leading as the first net-zero port in the UK. These ports will support vessel charging and electric vehicle charging for landside operations. Then there are the south coast demonstrators. The Electric Seaway project has installed eight fast charging sites along the south coast, primarily supporting leisure and small commercial vessels under 24 metres. This is a robust regional network but is not yet designed for the largest container or deep sea ships. However, that must come.

The major problem that the Government, the Minister and his department need to address is limited grid capacity to our ports. As of now, only eight of the 32 major UK ports are expected to have sufficient electrical capacity by 2050 without significant upgrades, indicating that the fast charging rollout is still in its infancy and faces infrastructure challenges. The Minister’s comments on that major hurdle to growth would be greatly appreciated. However, let me try to help the Government with some suggestions.

Thought needs to be given to increasing the number of pilot and funding schemes, such as the Government’s clean maritime demonstration competition, to accelerate infrastructure upgrades. We need to assess port electricity capacity and plans for phased upgrades to handle high-power ship charging. We need to collaborate with technology providers and shipping lines to prioritise routes and vessel types for electrification. We need to monitor lessons from early projects at Heysham and the Electric Seaway for best practices and pitfalls.

The Minister himself has been a pioneer of similar work in the rail sector. Here, I argue, there is an opportunity at an early stage for the Government to position themselves as leaders by investing early in scalable future-proofed charging networks that can be expanded as more electric vessels enter service. This is really important because the global electric shipping market is projected to grow rapidly from about $4.85 billion in 2025 to $18 billion by 2032, with compound annual growth rates ranging from 10% to 20% depending on the vessel segment.

Environmental regulations also apply to shipping. Stricter emission laws are pushing ship operators to adopt cleaner technologies, including batteries, especially on short sea and regional routes where charging infrastructure is more viable. There are technology advances to be supported. Improvements in lithium-ion battery energy density, lifespan and safety, along with falling battery costs, make electrification increasingly feasible for larger vessels and longer routes.

The geographic leaders such as Norway and China are at the forefront. Norway leads in battery ferries. China is launching fully electric coastal container ships and has certified more than 30 battery makers for marine use. There is hybridisation: many new car and truck carriers and some container ships use hybrid battery-LNG systems for port manoeuvring and emission reduction, with pure battery power still limited by current battery energy density.

The UK Government have the opportunity to build on this important document and outline a clear road map with specific objectives and milestones for the deployment of charging facilities. This strategic plan should include short-term goals, such as the number of ports equipped with basic facilities, and long-term targets for full-scale electrification.

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[Lord Moynihan (Con)]

My Lords, it is back to the world of cold ironing. The UK Government have the opportunity to outline a clear road map with specific objectives and milestones for the deployment of charging facilities. A strategic plan should build on what we have been considering in this document to include short-term goals, such as the number of ports equipped with basic facilities, and long-term targets for full-scale electrification.

All the good intentions in this plan are meaningless unless we invest in grid upgrades. That means that the UK Government should collaborate with distribution network operators to upgrade grid connections now and ensure robust energy supplies. This may involve investing in new substations, transformers and high-voltage connections to handle the increased demand. Given the constraints on the public sector investment plans, this calls for a new PFI approach, one that balances risk between government and the private sector, learns the lessons from the past—not least over complex and bureaucratic contracts—and accelerates investment. In some ways, given its size and stand-alone features, it can be a test case for government, working with the Treasury and the private sector, as has been successfully done with the Thames Tideway project.

Finally, in all the work that we are doing, it is vital that we make our ports safe for employees, crews, passengers and the public.

[Lord Fuller (Con)]

Before my noble friend sits down, although I do not want to disagree with a word he said about electricity, does he agree that any policy must keep an open mind as to all new forms of energy, in particular methanol-powered ships using clean-burning methanol, which is increasingly becoming a viable alternative to heavy crude oil? The policy needs to keep its mind open.

[Lord Moynihan (Con)]

My Lords, I absolutely do have an open mind to that. We must not only be open-minded towards the challenges that are faced by battery technology and reducing the weight of batteries, for example, but look at all forms of clean energy that can benefit our international maritime trade. The point that my noble friend has made is absolutely accurate in that sense.

In my comments today, I wished to concentrate very much on the current direction of travel that is occurring in the industry because it is vital when it comes to designing a policy for ports and making sure that we are ready to take on the challenges that we already see embedded in European Union legislation. That is important for ports in Wales and on the west coast of the United Kingdom, for example, when it comes to ferries going to Ireland.

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Baroness Watkins of Tavistock) (CB)]

My Lords, let me just clarify that there should be only points of clarification in Grand Committee, not the reopening of an issue.