FEATURE
Port of Middlesbrough – reborn from history and heritage
BACK TO THE
FUTURE
Ambitious - AV Dawson MD Gary Dawson .
As AV Dawson , a business synonymous with the Teesside region , embarks on rebranding its Middlesbrough base as Port of Middlesbrough , we investigate why it isn ’ t such a new identity , what the future has in store and how it ’ s keen to hold on to over 80 years of AV Dawson heritage .
O ne of the first thoughts that comes to mind when you mention AV Dawson is the strong sense of family . After all , it remains , as always , a family business . Founded more than 80 years ago by Arthur Vernon Dawson and his wife Eleanor , many Teessiders are familiar with the story of how the business has grown from a single horse and cart to the thriving business it is today .
However , the Middlesbrough-based business ’ s growth hasn ’ t happened by chance . This has been achieved through hard work and determination of three generations of the Dawson family including current managing director Gary Dawson and formerly his late father Maurice . Middlesbrough has always been firmly at the heart of the business , with each generation showing continued commitment to the area by investing and developing in the town .
This early investment saw the business buy Dent ’ s Wharf in the early 1970s as a yard to operate the expanding haulage business , while later acquisitions of Tyne Tees Wharf strategically added an additional length of river frontage .
It wasn ’ t until the late 1980s that the business gained a licence to operate its first quay . With this , the name of the quayside changed from Middlesbrough Wharf to Dawson ’ s Wharf .
In 1985 , the business made further land acquisitions after buying Ayrton Rolling Mill from British Steel , but it wasn ’ t until 1998 that AV Dawson further expanded its quayside by buying the old Linthorpe Dinsdale Yard , affectionately known as Lin-Din .
This purchase included the 43-metre high fabrication halls , one of the most iconic buildings on the Teesside skyline . The site continued to expand , incorporating several plots of land alongside the Middlesbrough Goods
Rail Yard . Once developed , these sites became collectively known as the Tees Riverside Intermodal Park .
With such deep heritage and a well recognised name , many may question the reasons behind a rebrand .
“ Well , in part it is down to the reasons above ,” says Gary Dawson . “ The business transitioned from a one-manand-woman coal merchants in Linthorpe village , moving from horses to trucks and via three sites in Middlesbrough to its first quayside , before buying all the adjacent plots and culminating in 100 acres of integrated rail infrastructure , warehousing and quayside .
“ This , and the various site names , has given us a real identity crisis and , while the name AV Dawson prevails , it is a challenge to describe succinctly what AV Dawson is . Invariably , we find ourselves defining the business by the site names and activities we have developed .
“ Over recent months we have thought
88 | Tees Business