With a rich maritime history and recognition around the world for its place in the seafaring industry, you may be surprised to hear that over two thirds of people in Plymouth have been to sea in the last year and a lot of people cannot name other important British seaports.
The Seafarers UK charity, which aims to highlight how important shipping and seaports are to the UK economy, conducted the report to show the lack of knowledge about our ports.
People in Plymouth were asked to name the UK’s major seaports but 87% didn’t name Sunderland, 69 % couldn’t remember Glasgow and 44 % forgot about Belfast. And an embarrassing 14% said Calais was a major UK seaport – even though it is in France.
Seafarers UK hands out £2.5million a year to people in the maritime industry, although it receives requests for much more. The new campaign is hoping to raise awareness for the charity and raise money.
A spokesman said: “What impact would that have on our island nation? Our fishing ports, freight dockyards and ferry terminals would fall silent and there would be no Royal Navy to protect our merchant ships and shores.
“Pretty soon there would be little fuel for our cars, power cuts, chronic food shortages and riots in our streets. That is the message of a hard-hitting campaign for Seafarers Awareness Week (6-12 June) to remind us how reliant we are on ships and the 80,000 British men and women who work at sea.
“To mark the campaign, a thought-provoking video has been commissioned by Seafarers UK, the leading charity for our maritime community. It paints the nightmare scenario of what would happen if every ship suddenly disappeared and highlights just how important seafarers are.”