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22nd December 2012

Business leaders from some of Merseyside’s foremost Maritime Sector companies gathered together last week to hear sector representative organisation Mersey Maritime set out its plans for the future.

Over 100 people attended the two hour summit meeting at the Leverhulme Hotel in Port Sunlight last Thursday evening (June 10, 2010), in which Mersey Maritime - the most successful cluster organisations of its kind in the UK - highlighted key milestones from its first seven years, and presented a blueprint for moving forward.

Service director at Marine Turbo Engineering (MTE), Mark Dean, reports that his company is celebrating 40 years of servicing turbochargers and supplying spare parts.

“At MTE we supply both new and fully reconditioned parts for the marine and offshore industries for all types of medium and slow speed engines,” he says.

Mersey Maritime has welcomed the government’s decision to scrap backdated port rates, ending 18 months of uncertainty for more than 70 businesses in Liverpool.

Chancellor George Osborne yesterday made good on his promise to abolish the rates previously levied on port side operators in his emergency Budget speech. Port companies in the city had been facing backdated business rates bills that stretched into the millions and put up to 3,000 jobs under threat.

David Pendleton, business development director at Mersey Maritime, told Insider: “It’s been a commitment from the coalition government from day one and we’re delighted they’ve stuck to their promise. It takes an awful lot of pressure off businesses in Liverpool that were faced with the bills.”

However, the decision follows news that the Port of Liverpool reported a 7 per cent drop in freight traffic last year, according to the Department for Transport. It handled 29.89 million tonnes, down from 32.2 million in 2008.

The shortlist has been announced for Wirral’s biggest business awards. The Wirral Investment Network (WiN) Business Awards aims to celebrate the success of Wirral companies as well as applauding them for the contribution they make towards the overall growth of the borough. Judges who produced the shortlist were looking for businesses – and individuals – that have made a significant positive impact on the Wirral economy and have developed in terms of growth, economic prosperity and job creation.

BUSINESS OF THE YEAR: Arriva Wirral; Stiebel Eltron; The Contact Company SME OF THE YEAR: AEV Ltd; CPL Training; Regal Wholesale Ltd

SMALL BUSINESS OF THE YEAR: Atlas Fire & Security Ltd; Auger; Halliwell Industrial & Marine Silencers Ltd

BUSINESS START OF THE YEAR: Lockwood Engineering; TTH Laundry Services; Web Services Wirral

BUSINESS PERSON OF THE YEAR: Daniel Davies, CPL Training; Mark McManus, Stiebel Eltron; Ian Robinson, Pharmapac (UK) Ltd

ENVIRONMENTAL AWARD: Bagnall & Morris; BuilderScrap Ltd; Technical Demolition Services Ltd

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AWARD: Foz Electrical; Tranmere Rovers Football Club; Typhoo Tea Ltd

TRAINING AND SKILLS AWARD: Feedwater Ltd; T-Systems Ltd; The Contact Company

INVESTMENT OF THE YEAR: Finsa; Heap & Partners Ltd; Pharmapac (UK) Ltd.

INNOVATION AND CREATIVITY AWARD: Linea Group; Mersey Maritime Ltd; Sign Lights Ltd

Jim Wilkie, deputy chief executive of Wirral Council and chairman of WiN, a partnership between the borough’s public and private sector, said: “It is vital, now more than ever, that we recognise and celebrate our local businesses’ performance. “The quantity and calibre of entries for the awards was extremely high and I would like to thank all those who took the time to enter.” Winners will be announced at a gala dinner on Friday, July 9 at Birkenhead School, hosted by Roger Phillips, of BBC Radio Merseyside.

The event is sponsored by T-Systems, The Contact Company and Egerton House Wirral Ltd.

Port companies on Merseyside have been spared from paying millions of pounds in back-dated tax through the introduction of emergency regulations. Retrospective hikes in business rates have been suspended and are expected to be scrapped in 2011. At least 10 of Merseyside's estimated 300 port companies closed under pressure to meet initial payments.

Birkenhead's NW Trading, which has laid off 10 of its 50 staff, said it was "a victory for common sense". The cargo-handling company, which also operates out of Hull, received a £2.5m backdated bill from the government's Valuation Office Agency (VOA) in 2008.

"We have only survived by managing our way out of it very carefully". Tony Woolrich, managing director of NW Trading

The bills were a result of the VOA re-assessing all port companies' property assets and increasing bills retrospectively. Tony Woolrich, managing director of NW Trading, which has an annual turnover of £2.5m, said that firms had no way of passing on the unforeseen cost to customers.

He said: "The size of the bill was enough to wipe us out and we have only survived by managing our way out of it very carefully. "We had to lay off 20% of our staff in Birkenhead to get us through a period that we should never have had to deal with. "This is a victory for common sense and we're absolutely delighted because it was grossly unfair."