43. Mr. R. C. Mitchellasked the Minister for Trade how many ships and what total tonnage have been transferred from the British flag to flags of convenience and foreign flags since 1 January 1980.
§ Mr. SproatThe following table gives information on all transfers of ships from United Kingdom registry to other countries and United Kingdom dependent territories for further trading. The available statistics do not distinguish outright sales from cases in which a British owner retains beneficial ownership, but most of these transfers are believed to have been outright sales.
§ Mr. Peter ReesIn the third quarter of this year, exports of manufactured goods, on an Overseas Trade Statistics basis, amounted to £9 billion.