in the world of international shipping this really is not that important
the containers will get where they need to go
2 Likes
If the container was coming from the US or China, it wouldn’t really matter. But when the trip distance from Amsterdam to Greenock is an order of magnitude greater than a trip from Amsterdam to Felixstowe or two orders of magnitude greater than Calais to Dover, it becomes meaningful. And again, existing ports are not big enough, they can’t get much bigger, and the related logistic infrastructure around the ports (road size, number of trucks) isn’t there to support independence from England.
I don’t know if the overall shipping volume post-Brexit will be as healthy as the shipping volume pre-Brexit, do you?
If Scotland’s part of the EU, there will be a greater incentive to develop secondary shipping from France or Spain than shipping Asia goods through England first, no?
Why assume that an independent Scotland would keep London as their port of first call for goods?
And, if Brexit guts England, an independent Scotland within the EU could extract favourable shipping terms from England that people wouldn’t envision now.
What incentive will England have to make Scottish goods flow quickly? Or at all?
Hunger in the stomachs of Londoners?
1 Like
I would love to see an upside-down sticker on a modded-out Defender 110 back window that says, “Pardon me, but if you notice this vehicle upon it’s roof, please be so kind as to help it upright.”
2 Likes
Oh. Sorry about that.
The Brexit planning done by the British government is very pessimistic about trade volume - they are certain it will go down, and they believe it is possible that will go down enough to cause civil unrest.
You sound like the people campaigning for Brexit. Just because you think you are a big market doesn’t mean the physical realities of trade can be ignored. Basing choices on emotional arguments about sovereignty and wishful thinking is how they got suckers to vote for Brexit in the first place.
Because that’s how a large chunk of it is done now and there are no alternate means to replace it. The current logistics of trade have been built over a very long time and is very efficient as it is and every place that exists is big enough for current trade and no more. Making large-scale changes will not be easy or quick.
The EU has been trying to get Britain to agree to trade terms for years. That hasn’t gone well. Do you really think an England that can’t get enough medicine for itself is going to create a virtual fast-lane up the M6 for an independent Scotland to get theirs?
1 Like
There are ports with spare capacity and room for development on the east coast-
There’s the container port at Grangemouth, The ferry terminal and former naval yards at Rosyth, Smaller commercial ports at Leith and Dundee, and the former industrial harbours on the Fife coast that could be brought back into service.
2 Likes
People build facilities to meet demand all the time and there are many abandoned facilities around the world. When conditions change, they change.
I bet a lot of people in the past thought shipbuilding would have lasted longer than it did too. Infrastructure isn’t destiny.
Grim. Of course, if England is in that much trouble, I still think shipping from a EU port would only become more attractive in the long run.
Most basically, I think Brexit will cut the number of incentives to ship through the UK generally, and England in the event of an independent Scotland, and that doesn’t mean any relationship or route will be untouched. Either they’ll work the same transport for cheaper, or be by-passed. We can see what happens.
The current logistics of trade have been built over a very long time and is very efficient as it is
True for the hypothetical world where more people voted Remain…
1 Like
7 Likes
I bet it doesn’t have room for a chapter titled Mea Culpa either.
2 Likes
The reviews back you up.
5 Likes
Why would a Saudi prince care about peasants?
3 Likes
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
