CTC MARINE PROJECTS AGREES DEAL WITH PD PORTS

London, 22 April 2008 - PD Ports has announced the signing of a ten year land lease with North East based subsea contractor, CTC Marine Projects (CTC). This agreement cements an already established relationship between the two parties that has supported CTC’s four strong fleet for a number of years on the river Tees. CTC, who specialise in trenching for subsea pipelines, flow-lines and cables, operate from the PD Ports’ facility at Teesport Commerce Park in South Bank, Redcar. The site includes a heavy lift quay equipped with a 200 tonne crane and adjacent storage area for CTC’s state of the art trenching fleet and associated equipment.

Teesport has a long history of supporting the North Sea oil and gas industries. In addition to the facilities at Teesport Commerce Park, the port of Hartlepool has also long been associated with offshore work, in particular for the construction of new platforms and modules. In recent years the port has been regularly used as a spooling and fabrication facility for sub-sea pipelines.

PD Ports’ heavy lift quay facility at Teesport Commerce Park will be used as a supply base for the subsea contractor to undertake specialist offshore work. Based in Darlington, CTC employs 220 people and has an annual turnover of £55m. In addition to the berth and adjacent land CTC will also continue to lease a nearby warehouse for repair and maintenance of its sub-sea ploughs.

Graham Wall, Commercial Director - Teesport & Port Services, said: “This is a very positive new step forward for Tees Commerce Park and highlights Tees and Hartlepool’s growth potential in the offshore support sector. PD Ports plans to further promote its offshore service offerings this year at exhibitions in Houston, Texas and Aberdeen, aimed at generating other similar opportunities which will be of benefit to the Tees Valley and the local business community.”

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• PD Ports Limited was formed following the successful takeover of PD Ports plc by Babcock and Brown Infrastructure (ASX: BBI) in February 2006.
• 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 1350 members of staff, and generates an annual turnover of over £130 million from 30 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– this includes:
Teesport: one of the top 3 UK ports, with strong flows of containers, bulk traffics and finished cars, handling 50 million tonnes of throughput per annum.
The Northern Gateway Container Terminal: a major deep sea container terminal development 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.
Please visit www.thenortherngateway.co.uk
Portcentric Logistics: a new 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 the Midlands. In 2006 ASDA Wal*Mart opening a 350,000 sq ft import centre at Teesport and has saved more than 2 million road miles by adopting the portcentric concept.
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 ship’s agency, chartering and stevedoring services.
Logistics: PD Logistics offers warehousing and distribution services at 15 UK locations throughout the North East, Humberside & East Anglia. Please visit www.pdlogistics.com
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 forms part of the potential for development.
The redevelopment of part (133 hectares) of Hartlepool docks known as Victoria Harbour.

This release was published on openPR.