In International Shipping News 18/03/2017
Shipowners from Galicia warn that 140 ships will be affected by the departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union (EU).
“Galicia is playing it in the Brexit negotiations,” said the president of the Shipowners’ Cooperative, Javier Touza, due to the uncertainty faced by the sector, La Voz de Galicia reported.
Touza said the affected ships are 140, of which 40 usually operate in the Falkland Islands, “a difficult-to-replace fishing ground”.
The leader was one of the participants in the conference on the challenges and opportunities of the Brexit for the fishing sector held in Vigo by the auditor KPMG.
In his speech, he recalled that the lack of precedents of a decision of this kind does not even make it clear which model must be followed. In any case, he said, the “legal security of our companies” is at stake.
In his opinion, it can also have a significant impact on employment, as he said 1,800 Galician crew members work onboard the 140 ships.
Another industry related to fishing that will be affected is the canning industry.
In this sense, the association general secretary, Juan Vieites, stressed that Britain is the fourth country to which Galicia exports its products.
Vieites agreed with Touza that “the worst thing on the market is uncertainty,” and called for turning the challenges into opportunities.
In this regard, he recalled that Britain is an importing country and its dependence on the EU is greater than on the rest of the world.
Finally, Manuel Gil, head of customs and taxation at KPMG, was convinced that “negotiation is going to be difficult” in fisheries issues, especially since the associations that group British fishing communities have great expectations of improvement with the disconnection of the country from the EU.
Source: FIS
