What is a freeport? A freeport is a region of the country where special economic rules apply. It’s based around a seaport, or airport, but can extend over a large neighbouring area – up to 45km. It’s a form of SEZ (special economic zone) that allows businesses to manufacture, import and export within the UK border, but without the usual tax and customs restrictions. With the current freeport initiative, the Government aims to provide an economic boost as part of the nation’s post-COVID recovery, drive regeneration and “level up” the UK’s ports and historic industrial regions.

Anglo American bring material from their mining facility through a custom-built tunnel under the North York Moors to their processing facility at Wilton International. Anglo American chose Wilton International because it met their requirement for the lowest environmental impact possible. ';" class="embed-container" style="background-image: url('https://res.cloudinary.com/wilton/image/upload/v1638371381/jenwilliamsangloamerican.jpg');background-repeat:no-repeat;background-size:cover;"

Teesside Freeport has two sets of benefits. The custom zone benefits which offer simplified customs procedures for the import and export of material and the simplification of things like VAT, tax and duty. At Wilton International we actually have a tax site within the Freeport Zone which means there are capital allowance benefits and business rate holidays as well as incentives around national insurance payments for employers. Wilton has substantial infrastructure already in place in terms of power generation and other utilities and the plug-and-play nature of Wilton makes it a great choice for inward investment because companies can get new plant up and running so much quicker and don’t have to invest in all of that ancillary plant.

UK motorists have seen a move towards a more environmentally friendly way to travel with the introduction of E10 standard petrol in September 2021. The ‘E’ in E10 petrol is ethanol, a form of alcohol which is blended with petrol to create a fuel that helps reduce CO2 emissions from vehicles, compared with standard petrol. E10 became the standard petrol on most British forecourts from September 2021, with Northern Ireland adopting the change in early 2022.