FEATURE
“Twenty years ago, the port had oil, steel and
chemicals. Look at how many different strands there
are now – we have oil and chemicals, and some steel
may come back, but the list now is so diverse.”
“In my culture, we don’t believe in hierarchical nonsense.
The people driving the cranes know far more than me about
that part of the business, so let go of the control and give
them authority.
“We believe in the balance of power, so our goals are
aligned with the unions - and if you work with people you can
move mountains. I might not know everyone by name, but I
know most of them, and I always take time to listen.
“When Covid-19 happened, people worked over and
beyond to keep everything functioning, because it’s their
business, not mine.”
The loss of thousands of local steel jobs has hit the
area hard, but Frans believes the Tees Valley is heading
for a bright new economic era based on the cluster of
manufacturing, carbon capture, wind offshore, agribulks, the
hydrogen revolution and Anglo American’s recent takeover
of the £2.5bn potash mine construction project on the North
York Moors.
“The opportunities in the Tees Valley are huge, with the
way it is transforming itself around the green agenda,”
says Frans. “Twenty years ago, the port had oil, steel and
chemicals. Look at how many different strands there are now
– we have oil and chemicals, and some steel may come back,
but the list now is so diverse.”
His view on Brexit is that “it wasn’t necessarily the best
thing for UK plc” but he believes Teesport could benefit from
an uplift in container cargo at the expense of southern ports.
And on the coronavirus crisis, he says: “It has been
extremely disruptive for all of us and heartbreaking for many,
but it is a temporary event and our outlook has always been
long term.
“PD Ports is the Tees Valley – from the Tees Barrage to the
South Gare – and the quality of the infrastructure, the depth
of the river and the resilience of the manufacturing cluster
makes this one of the biggest logistics hubs in the north of
England,” he says.
Above all of that, the most important factor for Frans will
always be people.
“We’ve brought a really talented set of leaders through the
ranks, who are happy to tell me to bugger off – and I regard
that as the biggest compliment,” he smiles.
It is an enlightened approach to management, based on
values instilled in him as a child when his father told him to
always remember the dying shipyards and he was given the
freedom to go through the holes in the wall to explore life’s
opportunities.
“I never had many expectations – I just went with the flow,”
he says. “And when the time comes to move on, I want to
look back on the Tees Valley and be able to say: ‘We did it
together.’”
The voice of business in the Tees region | 25