PD Ports completes first phase of investment programme

PD Ports has taken the next step in its programme to almost double its container handling capacity at Teesport, with the completion of the ground works in January.

The works, which began in January 2011, involved the complete reconstruction of more than five hectares of the container terminal area with heavy duty paving designed to withstand the increased loads from the container stacks and the four new rubber tyre gantry cranes (RTGs).

PD Ports has invested over £16 million as part of an overall £29 million project, which will expand the container terminal capacity from 235,000 to 450,000 TEU (Twenty Foot Equivalent Unit) and position Teesport as the second largest container port in the north of the UK.

“We are very pleased with the progress so far,” says David Robinson, chief executive, PD Ports Group. “Operator training on the new RTGs was completed ahead of schedule and the cranes are already in full service at the terminal. We are also well advanced in testing and implementing a new terminal operating system, which remains on schedule to be operational this summer.”

The RTG cranes represent the single biggest equipment investment at Teesport since the container terminal opened in 2003.

Teesport is also launching a fast gate service in April, to reduce waiting times for containers moved from ship to warehouse, to further improve service to onsite customers including ASDA and Tesco.

PD Ports continues to see container volumes rise despite the global economic downturn and believes its promotion of the portcentric concept has contributed significantly to its success. The concept involves establishing distribution centres and importing goods through ports closer to the final customer.

Unpacking, storing and picking goods at the port for onward delivery to stores directly benefits the supply chain at multiple levels. By eliminating road miles travelled from southern ports to distribution centres often based in the Midlands and the North, the environmental footprint and fuel consumption of the entire supply chain is reduced.

The recent announcement that Clipper Logistics Group will open a purpose built distribution centre within the port hinterland will further support PD Ports’ portcentric operations and will drive increasing volumes as the facility opens in autumn 2012.

ends

About PD Ports
• PD Ports Limited is owned by Canadian based Brookfield. Brookfield is a global asset manager focused on property, renewable power and infrastructure assets, with over $100 billion of assets under management. PD Ports was bought by Brookfield in November 2009.
• PD Ports is a high performing specialist ports business offering a wide variety of supply chain services to improve customers’ international product and material movements into and out of – as well as within – the UK.
• PD Ports employs over 1200 members of staff, and generates an annual turnover of over £115 million from many UK locations.
• PD Ports operates throughout the UK from bases at many key ports and logistics centres.
• The 3 business interests of PD Ports are:
o Port Operations– is split into two business streams – bulks and unitised and includes:
 Teesport: one of the top 4 UK ports, with flows of containers, bulk traffics and finished cars, handling almost 40 million tonnes of throughput p.a.
 Humber & Small Ports: owners and/or operators of ports on the Humber estuary, Rivers Trent and Ouse, and at Medina Wharf, Isle of Wight. Service offerings include ships’ agency, chartering and stevedoring services.
 Logistics: PD Logistics offers warehousing, recycling and distribution services at UK locations throughout the North East, Humberside & East Anglia, including at Felixstowe.
Development plans for port operations include:
• The Northern Gateway Container Terminal: a major new deep sea container terminal planned at Teesport on the South side of the River Tees. The £300+ million development will have a capacity of 1.5 million TEU (twenty foot equivalent unit) and is anticipated to deliver over 5,500 jobs to the Tees Valley, when fully operational. Circa 1,300 of the 5,500 new jobs have already been created through portcentric logistics operations in the past four years.
• Portcentric Logistics: a concept promoted by PD Ports for locating the storage and distribution of imported goods close to the point of arrival at a UK port. This concept avoids the slow handling and return of empty containers as well as eradicating unnecessary UK road mileage, which occurs when delivering to a traditional inland import centre, such as in the Midlands.
In 2006 ASDA WalMart opened a 360,000 sq ft import centre at Teesport and has saved more than 8 million road miles by adopting the portcentric concept. Adjacent to the ASDA facility, Tesco operates a purpose built 1.2 million sq ft import centre at Teesport, which opened in 2009. Tea and coffee specialists Taylors of Harrogate opened a purpose built warehouse facility at Teesport Commerce Park on the periphery of Teesport in 2010 to handle its UK imports.
o Conservancy – this includes:
 Management of river traffic for the ports of Tees and Hartlepool, ensuring safe navigation and maintaining the required channel depth.
o Property– this includes:
 Revenue and income from property and facilities owned by PD Ports and used by third party clients on long term leases.
 Land that is not utilised for operational purposes and offers potential for development.
 Port land at Hartlepool docks, which is highly attractive to the growing renewable energy sector, including offshore, windfarms, and biomass plants. PD Ports’ long term strategy is to further develop Hartlepool docks as a centre of excellence for the offshore support sector

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This release was published on openPR.