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International trade union, Nautilus International has stepped up its campaign to promote shipping as a greener method of transport by writing to Lord Adonis at the UK Department for Transport.

Nautilus general secretary Mark Dickinson [pictured] responded to the UK government’s Low Carbon Transport strategy which sets out actions to reduce transport emissions through to 2020.

In his letter, Mr Dickinson stated his disappointment at how the document has an undue emphasis on emissions reductions from shipping and the lack of recognition of the potential for the industry to deliver huge reductions in overall emissions from the UK transport system.

"The Union campaigns endlessly on the health and environmental consequences arising from shipping emissions and how the industry can take many technical and operational measures to improve the wellbeing of the environment and the health of seafarers," Mr Dickinson said.

"We have been long concerned that water transport is consistently overlooked as a way of cutting carbon emissions and reducing congestion on the nation’s roads. There are more than 300 commercial ports around the UK and over 2,000 miles of rivers, estuaries and inland waterways capable of carrying freight, which don’t need a costly infrastructure of support services," he added.

In his letter to the transport minister, Mr Dickinson stressed how freight carried on coastal ships and inland waterways can deliver up to 80 percent less carbon emissions than road transport and how nitrogen oxide emissions are reduced by around a third.

"The UK is lagging behind other countries in embracing the potential offered by water. Goods lifted in UK waters have dropped by 11 percent in the decade to 2007 and coastwise traffic has declined by 5% since 2000, and no freight facilities grants were awarded by the government for coastwise shipping in 2007," Mr Dickinson wrote.

Finally, Mr Dickinson expresses deep concern at the rejection of the House of Commons transport committee’s recommendation to develop an integrated freight plan, adding that it had "refused to identify any British ports to act as hubs for sea motorways on the grounds that it would be state interference in the private sector."

"Nautilus is keen to see action to overcome the obstacles – real or perceived – that inhibit the use of water as a greener way of moving goods," he added.