/NEWS
Serving the Teesside Business Community | 9
£90M FUNDING BOOST FOR TEESPORT
/OPINION
Teesport, operated by
PD Ports, has secured
a £90m funding deal
from Lloyds Bank.
Let’s keep on
Talking Up Teessside
O
L
loyds Bank has continued its
commitment to developing key
infrastructure projects in the region
after providing a £90m funding package to
Middlesbrough-based PD Ports.
The package will be used by PD Ports
to support an ongoing capital expenditure
programme to expand and develop its ports
and logistics assets.
The programme will build upon the
significant investment in Teesport in recent
years.
PD Ports, one of the country’s largest
port operators, owns and operates Teesport,
which processed 500,000 TEUs (Twenty-
Foot Equivalent Units) in 2017 and handles
approximately 4,100 vessels each year.
The partnership with PD Ports is the
latest in a series of landmark North-East
infrastructure deals supported by Lloyds
Bank, which has included leading the £700m
financing of the 299MW MGT Teesside
biomass power station, situated on PD Ports’
land.
Alison Smith, business development
director at Lloyds Bank, said: “This £90m
funding package will enable PD Ports to
future-proof its offering and ensure that it
can continue to offer outstanding port and
logistics services to businesses in the North-
East and across the United Kingdom.”
PD Ports’ group financial officer Dermot
Russell added: “PD Ports has a recognised
expertise in providing innovative and
customer-focused ports and logistics
solutions to a wide range of different
customers.
“Our continued investment in
infrastructure has allowed us to help our
customers increase the efficiency of their
global supply chains, and has delivered
increased volumes through our assets.
“We are delighted to have secured this
facility from Lloyds Bank, which will allow
us to continue our investment in regionally
and nationally important infrastructure, and
to enhance our capacity in our bulks and
unitised platforms.”
Able UK to assemble 90 wind turbines
A
Teesside
plant
is set
to construct
90 offshore
wind turbines,
creating up to
100 jobs.
A full-scale
turbine pre-
assembly
operation will
be established
at Able UK’s
Seaton Port
as part of MHI
Vestas’ work for Triton Knoll.
A statement by MHI said: “It is anticipated
that in total the port activity involving all
partners could create around 100 new and
predominantly local jobs, and unlock over
£16m investment in new infrastructure and
equipment.”
Turbine tower sections, blades and
nacelles will be assembled at Seaton before
being transported for installation at the wind
Able UK has won a deal to construct
90 offshore wind turbines, creating
up to 100 jobs.
farm, more than 30km offshore.
MHI Vestas CEO Philippe Kavafyan said:
“This means highly-skilled jobs in the local
offshore wind sector.”
Able UK will develop an additional 140m of
heavy-duty quayside at the port, which it says
will help the port become a competitive force
within the offshore sector while providing
considerable opportunities for the local
supply chain.
n average, I visit two Tees businesses a
week and my team get a little frustrated
with me because I invariably come back
and tell them something like “That’s one
of the best businesses I’ve ever seen.” But
I so often genuinely come away hugely
impressed.
For instance, technologies the Welding
Institute is creating around friction stir
welding may sound dull but are actually
amazing, while Middlesbrough’s Double
Eleven is working on the development of
games for the Xbox, while one of their
games coming out soon is set to be among
Microsoft’s blockbuster sellers.
Bill Scott of Wilton Engineering has
almost singlehandedly created a Teesside
business cluster for the offshore wind
sector, while systems produced by Cubic
in Stockton control transport systems in
London, New York, Sydney and Melbourne.
What Tees Business is doing in terms
of its campaign of #TalkingUpTeesside is
fantastic and so important because we
don’t, as a rule, talk ourselves up enough.
We just get on and do it – but it’s madness
not to tell the world about our successes.
I really enjoy shining a light on the
achievements of our businesses. In this
era of business bashing, it’s vital that we
highlight the way in which our businesses
play such a key role in people’s lives
It’s inspiring to hear that Teesside is such
a great place with so many positives to
shout about, rather than being fed a line –
as too often happens - that the place is on
its backside.
Of course, there are problems on
Teesside, as there are anywhere, but
sometimes I think we convince ourselves
that we’re second rate when we’re really
not.
Our businesses are more than first
rate and can compete with anybody. We
should all be proud of that fact and shout
about it loud and clear. So let’s keep on
#TalkingUpTeesside.
Ben Houchen
Tees Valley mayor
AV Dawson in Middlesbrough is the main
distribution hub for the supply of steel
coils from TATA into Nissan, who produce
half a million cars per year in the North-
East (a third of the cars made in the UK).
#TalkingUpTeesside