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Freeports could be Welsh economic miracle

[ March 1, 2024   //   ]

Secretary of State for Wales David Davies formally launched the two Welsh freeports at the Institute of Directors in London on 29 February, on the eve of St David’s Day.

The Anglesey (Ynys Mon) Freeport will cover the whole Isle of Anglesey, including Holyhead, the UK’s second busiest ro ro port after Dover and will have four tax or customs sites.

The Celtic Freeport will be based around Port Talbot and Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire. The Celtic Freeport consortium plans focus on low carbon technologies, such as floating offshore wind (FLOW), hydrogen, carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) and biofuels to support the accelerated reduction of carbon emissions.
David Davies said that the North Wales economy was already growing, in part because of the imminent opening of the Anglesey Freeport.

The Celtic Freeport would also help regenerate the South Wales economy, which has been hit by the news of steel plant closures. In future, however, Port Talbot and Milford Haven would be transformed in centres of green energy production.

Rebecca Evans, Welsh Government Minister for Finance and Local Government, addressing the gathering by video link, said that the range of projects underway on Anglesey – dubbed ‘Energy Island’ – was “truly breathtaking”. The Freeport could create 29,000 new jobs and lead to £6.5 billion in investment.

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