Richard Ballantyne, Chief Executive of the British Ports Association, has been awarded an OBE in the New Years Honours list.

The award is in recognition of Richard’s services to the maritime industry, which over the last two years have involved working tirelessly with government and industry to ensure ports’ contribution to keeping the country supplied and the needs of the industry were well understood by government.

Richard has also worked closely with government to represent the industry through the process of the UK’s departure from the EU. This has helped ensure that the border has continued to operate as smoothly as possible and has helped to keep the industry’s interests high on the political agenda.

Richard joined the British Ports Association in 2007 and became the Chief Executive in 2016. He represents the BPA on a number of industry bodies and is a member of a wide range of government stakeholder groups and international committees. He is also a Director of Maritime UK and a trustee of the seafarers charity the Merchant Navy Welfare Board.

Congratulations Richard from Compass and UK-ports.org!