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03:04
The UK Government is planning to set up a number of freeports and Liverpool, on England's north-west coast, is hoping to be one of those picked.
A freeport is also referred to as a free trade zone. It's a special exclusion area into which goods can be imported and processed, held or exported again without drawing any tax from Customs or having to go through the usual red-tape.
Steve Crane runs an import-export business called Brunswick International in Liverpool and is hugely excited about what it could bring. In short: "a vast amount of increased business and revenue", he explains to CGTN.
"If we get freeport status, this is out there then. We find that it will be advertised to the Chinese and Americans that Liverpool's now got the status, they would then look at using Liverpool Freeport as the stepping stone into the UK.
"We've now got the facility to take the big vessels in and with the freeport status, it would help us in gaining more business from China."
A report from Mace said creating seven freeports in the north of England could add $11.7 billion to the British economy and create around 150,000 new jobs.
But others have disputed this. And that's because there is concern about how a freeport would benefit the wider area. With the goods not allowed to be released into the country without drawing taxes, some point out that the benefits will almost exclusively be felt by those companies operating them.
Nevertheless, the local Chamber of Commerce is excited:
"It could provide a really catalytic opportunity for the economy in a post-Brexit world" says Paul Cherpeau, the Chief Executive of the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce CIC Group.
"A post-Brexit world does look a little bit scary for cities like Liverpool... providing facilities and opportunities to capitalize on our assets could be enabled by freeport status and that's a really important thing for Liverpool.”
The UK did used to have a number of freeports, including Liverpool. This is not a new concept, more a returning one:
"The government didn't renew the licenses in 2012, so the about dozen or so freeports that were in the country were closed down. They still operate as ports but without the same tax breaks", explains Peter Elson, a maritime historian who has written extensively about Liverpool's port history.
"It's all about money - about how much the treasury can raise and they obviously thought they weren't getting enough tax from the goods coming in and out of the Freeport so they ended it" he adds.
So as Brexit looms, Liverpool waits and hopes.
Will this be a promise that comes to fruition? Is it just a PR strategy from a Government trying to sell the benefits of a referendum result that not all are on board with?
In Liverpool, they're hoping it's the former.
