THE UK shipping industry has paid tribute to former deputy prime minister John Prescott, whose death at the age of 86 was announced today.

Mark Brownrigg, who was director general of the UK Chamber of Shipping at the time when Prescott was in office, said in a post on LinkedIn that it was important to recognise the “huge role” Prescott had played in support of British shipping in bringing the industry together and persuading Prime Minister Tony Blair and Chancellor Gordon Brown to back the industry’s call for the tonnage tax.

“That put the UK’s shipping sector on a competitive footing with shipping elsewhere in the world and was accompanied by measures to encourage employment of British seafarers,” Brownrigg said.

“There was a paradox that the man, who had had fractious relationships with the industry in his early career, was to be both at the heart of government with a true understanding of the sector’s importance and the facilitator of the major change which would reverse the 25-year contraction of the UK fleet.”

Prescott had a close association with shipping, starting his career as ship’s steward on Cunard Line, where he became a representative of the National Union of Seamen (later the RMT).

Writing in a history of the Chamber, Brownrigg noted that within weeks of the Labour Government’s election in 1997, Prescott established a Shipping Working Group to enable the maximum economic and environmental benefits of shipping; reverse the decline in the UK merchant fleet; and to encourage owners to commit more resources to seafarer training.

A closer co-operation with the industry would lead, in 2000, to the introduction of the UK tonnage tax regime.

The fact that Prescott, as a former seafarer, held the post he did and was at the heart of government with a “true understanding of the sector’s importance”, was critical to establishing the “new, more positive era”, Brownrigg wrote.

“Difficult and blunt to deal with, yes. Mercurial and unpredictable, yes. But a man who had unexpected warmth and put aside his deep differences to help save the industry,” Brownrigg said.

“His involvement was crucial - and the reversal would not have happened without him."

Prescott also served as patron to the Merchant Navy Welfare Board and was engaged with improving the lot of seafarers through his involvement.

“He cared deeply about seafarers and their lives,” said MNWB chief executive Stuart Rivers.

“He always showed a huge interest in the charity and the work we’ve been doing to help co-ordinate welfare efforts to support those on the ground.”