The Organization and Administration of Britain's Ports
| Published date | 01 March 1963 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1963.tb01126.x |
| Author | JOHN SARGENT |
| Date | 01 March 1963 |
Quarterly
Notes
The
Organization and Administration
of
Britain’s Ports
The creation of a National Ports Authority to co-ordinate and supervise
the execution of plans for the development of harbours on a national basis
\vas one of several major recommendations made in the Report of a recent
inquiry into the operation of Britain’s ports.* The Chairman of this
inquiry
leas
Viscount Rochdale, Chairman of the Cotton Board. The
Committee’s terms of reference were ‘To consider to what extent the major
docks and harbours of Great Britain are adequate to meet present and
future national needs; whether the methods of working can be improved;
and to make recommendations’. The Government are seeking the views
of various interested bodies on the main recommendations of the Commit-
tee before taking further action.
The Committee reasserted, with one reservation, a view taken by the
Cooper Committee in
19451‘
that there was a need not for more ports but
for better ports. While the idea of constructing one or two entirely new
ports had certain attractions, there were obvious disadvantages at the
present time. It would be a very expensive undertaking and there was no
reason to suppose new ports would attract a substantial proportion of the
:argo trade from major existing ports. The one reservation was that there
[night be a future need for additional specialized ports for handling bulk
‘cargoes such as
oil
and iron ore. The Committee stressed the need for
a
1
:oncentration of development effort on the existing major ports. They
g
)bserved ‘that there is excessive obsolescent capacity and the adequacy of
..he ports
to
meet increasing national needs, in terms not only of quantity
i)f
goods handled but also of quality
of
service,
is
doubtful unless positive
ineasures are taken to that end’. One major handicap to development was
I
he serious lack of sufficient deep water dry cargo berths.
A
survey carried
out by the Ministry of Transport showed that British ports compared very
poorly with major near Continental ports in this respect. The Committee
regarded the provision of additional deep water dry cargo berths as one
of the greatest immediate needs and they form an essential part
of
their
iecommendations for the development of the ports of Southampton and
‘
rilbury.
‘Report
qf
the
(.binmillee
of
Inquiry
into
the Major Ports
of
Great Britain.
Cmnd.
1824.
Sept.
tReporf
of
a
Corninittee
on
the
C!ide
EJtuarv
(Chairman:
T.M.Cooper).
1945.
Ministry
of
I
962.
\
\.ar
Transport.
83
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