Page 21 - Carmarthenshire Skills Report 2024

Following the recent announcement of Freeport
status for Neath Port Talbot and Milford Haven,
South West Wales can now compete for global
investment and trade, creating thousands of
new jobs and putting coastal communities on
the path to long-term growth and prosperity.
Crucially, bidders wishing to take advantage of
this opportunity must clearly demonstrate how
they will use Freeport status to:
• Generate increased economic activity
across Wales
• Stimulate a net growth in jobs
• Create high quality job opportunities and
support decarbonisation in the transition
to Net Zero.
1 : Promote regeneration and high-quality
job creation
A key aim of the Freeport Programme in Wales
is to stimulate net growth in jobs across
innovative industries and sectors of the
economy, creating high quality job
opportunities, sustainable and inclusive
economic growth, and regenerating the areas
which need it most.
• Promoting Regeneration – local
authorities, ports, and business working
together
• Support emerging industrial clusters
• Create high quality jobs, delivering fair
work and enhancing the local skills base
2 : Establish hubs for global trade and
investment
Welsh Freeport will need to demonstrate how
it will support increased global trade and
investment furthering economic activity across
Wales, and the wider UK
• Respect and protect human rights
• Encourage small and medium sized
enterprises (SME’s) to export
• Greener and more sustainable
infrastructure
• Increase trade through the port(s) (sea,
air or rail)
3 : Foster an innovative environment
Freeport will focus private and public-sector
investment in research and development
(R&D); it will be a dynamic environment that
brings together innovators to collaborate in
new ways, while offering controlled spaces to
develop and trial new ideas and technologies
Three distinct areas of focus:
• Port-specific innovation – innovation that
directly benefits air, rail or maritime ports
e.g. autonomous cranes and cargo-
handling equipment, digital security,
customs software that can track goods
across a broader area
• Port-related innovation - decarbonisation
of transport, industrial decarbonisation,
hydrogen technology etc
• Non-port-related innovation - Freeport
wider offer e.g. renewable energy
technology, pharmaceuticals, quantum
technologies, advanced materials,
robotics, AI
Three Freeport Objectives
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Although Freeports will not be directly linked to
Carmarthenshire, their growth may have a
leakage effect on the county’s workforce and
may demand supply chain services from local
industry.