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LNG Port Warns of Customs Withdrawal
01 Feb 2004
An influential group of visiting MPs has been warned that the security of Pembroke Port in Wales UK could be compromised if a decision to withdraw customs officers from the port is implemented.
Members of the House of Commons Welsh Affairs Committee were told by Milford Haven Port Authority that the HM Customs plan would mean the nearest officers to the port would be based in Cardiff, and valuable working relationships would be destroyed at a time when security was high on the national and international agenda. Wales' largest port is the site for two proposed LNG terminals which, if they come on stream, will be providing over 30% of the UK's gas requirements.
Port Authority chief executive Ted Sangster expressed his organisation's concern to the visiting Members of Parliament, who were on a fact-finding visit to Milford Haven to discuss the implications of changes in the operation of Customs & Excise in Wales.
"This government is seeking to address the issue of security by encouraging statutory and regulatory bodies to work closely together, but this proposal would force two key organisations apart, said Sangster.
'It helps us as an Authority, our customers, and the shipping companies that we can have effective cross-discipline working and communication with Customs Officers because we work side by side. They feed into our approach to security as part of their normal operations.
'This close and valuable relationship creates a degree of trust and understanding which would be more difficult to maintain if they were no longer based in the Port. A statutory, uniformed and visible presence which Customs Officers provide can only reinforce what we are all seeking to do in managing the existing and the coming, more intensive, security regimes.'
MJ Information No: 19131
