Member Engagement
One of the main bene fi ts that your BIFA membership subscription brings is access to information – and regional meetings are an important mode of communication Around the regions
T hroughout the early summer BIFA’s Member engagement team welcomed Members to regional meetings in Liverpool, Manchester, Dover, Heathrow, Southampton, Belfast and the Midlands, where important local and national topics were discussed. To ensure that you do not miss the next regional meeting in your area, sign in to your Member portal and update your email preferences to include your local region. North-West & Northern Ireland In the North-west, regional representative Andrew Melton hosted meetings in Liverpool at the Crowne Plaza Hotel by the River and in Manchester at the National Football Museum. Both meetings included feedback from BIFA policy groups and the recent Business Leaders Forum, and heard from the Institute of Export who detailed the current testing and plans for migration to the replacement Trader Support Service (TSS), which is expected to be fully operational in October. BIFA director general Steve Parker
and other board directors attended the Northern Ireland regional meeting at the Mission to Seafarers in Belfast, hosted by regional consultant Shauneen McConville. This followed a very successful meeting with a variety of key stakeholders including Emma Little- Pengelly, Deputy First Minister, and Jayne Brady, Head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service, along with representatives from Belfast Harbour Commissioners, Warrenpoint Harbour, NICC and Invest NI. Among the topics discussed were the TSS replacement, dual market access and the very real opportunities to be harnessed, along with the challenges being experienced. The Midlands Regional representative Steve Murray held his fi rst meetings in the Midlands, splitting the region East- West. The team at East Midlands Airport detailed their cargo capacity plans and bene fi ts as a local alternative to Heathrow, while BIFA’s Andy Cooke spoke about the collaboration with
Heathrow Airport as it redevelops the cargo estate and introduces a third runway. Members attending the West Midlands meeting heard from the Port of Felixstowe on its efforts to improve vessel turnarounds and container handling ef fi ciencies, the introduction of electric vehicles on the port and the works being carried out to accommodate larger vessels. In the South The Kent & East Sussex meeting was held the day after Sir Keir Starmer’s resignation as Prime Minister, which disrupted the speaker line-up, but Richard Catt was still able to secure speakers from Border Force, Dover and Ashford Port Health, HMRC and local agent Martintrux Ltd. Discussions included issues with the short straits and the future of Sevington, the postponed UK/EU summit, the SPS Reset, GVMS, and ELO issues and experiences. Also highlighted were the removal of the €150 Low Value Import (LVI) in the EU and, when the UK follows, how this will affect Bulk Import Reduced Dataset (BIRDS) authorisations. Discussion around the Heathrow Cargo redevelopment programme formed a large section of the agenda for the Heathrow regional meeting, hosted by Paul Cunningham at Kempton Park Racecourse. Andy Cooke from BIFA, and Mark Bellis and Claudia Carley from BT, reported on the recent AIS workshop and outlined the next steps involving a live trial in the autumn. Attendees also heard from Richard Steeples, Border Force FEDAT (Freight Engagement and Data), who updated the meeting on safety and security. He explained the new Richard Steeples of Border Force addresses the Heathrow meeting
“ To ensure that you do not miss the next regional meeting in your area, sign in to your member portal and update your email preferences
to include your local region
20 | August 2026
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