The strategy includes an agreement to work together to create new jobs in and around ports, and boost investment in an East-West Freight Supercorridor with improvements to rail infrastructure being the main priority.

A report entitled Gateways to the Northern Powerhouse: Towards a Northern ports strategy’ by think tank IPPR North has found that there is considerable value in the major port operators in the North joining forces to promote the opportunities of using their ports for international connectivity and industrial development.

The report identifies 15 separate recommendations for central and local Government, and local enterprise partnerships as well as Northern ports, freight and logistics companies themselves. One is to establish a Northern Ports, Freight and Logistics Association to drive strategic co-operation within the sector and to create a Northern Maritime Knowledge Hub

While 95 per cent of British goods come and go through ports, the region is home to 24 per cent of the UK population, but transports 56 per cent of the UK’s rail tonnage, 35 per cent of road tonnage and accommodates 35 per cent of total port throughput.

However, 60 per cent of freight destined for the North is delivered to southern ports – leading to unnecessary motorway traffic, delays, pollution and inefficiency.

Ed Cox, Director of IPPR North, said: "Britain was a trading nation long before the European Union was ever thought of, and that fact will not change despite the Brexit vote. We need a global North now like never before, so it is fantastic to see the North's port operators coming together to work so closely.

“The nature of any new European trade agreement will be vital, but the measures set out in our new Northern Ports Strategy provide a framework upon which any new deal must be based.

"To continue to punch above their weight, we need to see government investment to back that of the ports. With over £1B invested in the ports themselves, government must now put in its £100M to create an East-West Freight Supercorridor and end the costly and inefficient movement of lorries up and down the country.”

A number or organisations have been highlighting the sheer waste and environmental damage of North Britain-Continent truck traffic moving over Southern ports, neglecting the longer ro-ro routes and shortsea lo-lo alternatives in the North Sea. At Intermodal Europe in Hamburg last year, MDS Transmodal's Mike Garratt said that a new model is needed, but a necessary step is for the shipping industry to engage more with government.