Serving the Teesside Business Community | 29
Down by the riverside - a ship docked at
AV Dawson's impressive Tees frontage.
More than just
road haulage!
If you asked people in the Teesside area “What does AV Dawson do?” you
would probably be met with a similar response from most people of “Road
haulage?”
And this answer would not be incorrect. A stalwart of Teesside business
for over 80 years, AV Dawson does run a very successful road haulage
operation.
In fact, most people will recognise the AV Dawson name from the side of
trucks and trailers running up and down the UK’s road network.
However, hidden away on Riverside Park, there is a flurry of other activity not
often seen by members of the public. Let’s take a look at what really makes
AV Dawson tick…
T
HE branding icons on the AV
Dawson logo are plain to see: road,
rail, land and sea. While the road
aspect of this is known to many, the
others are not so familiar.
AV Dawson operates out of a 100-acre
port facility based on Riverside Park in
Middlesbrough, which may be a surprise to
many as people don’t realise the scale of
the operation.
The business has one of the largest
independent rail terminals in the North of
England. The rail links directly to the East
Coast Mainline and provides immediate
access to AV Dawson’s quay-side facilities
and rail freight terminal.
The rail facilities are used by many of the
country’s household names including Tata
Steel and British Gypsum.
Steel from Port Talbot in Wales is
transported by rail to AV Dawson’s
automotive steel distribution centre to
supply Nissan’s car making facility in
Sunderland.
British Gypsum, part of the global
Saint Gobain Group, imports gypsum - a
product which is used to make plaster and
plasterboard - into the Teesside facility. The
contract takes advantage of the company’s
full multimodal logistics offer; with the
product arriving by ship at AV Dawson’s
berth for unloading into storage, before
being loaded into trains for daily deliveries
to the East Midlands area.
Complementing the rail facility are port
facilities with 1km of direct River Tees
frontage. The site is also strategically
important, as the only port in North-East
England with heavy and high route access
to the sea.
Recently the port facilities have been
host to some exciting projects.
• The business’s site was selected to
receive cargo for the construction of
Sir David Attenborough’s new wharf in
Antarctica, beating competition from
ports across the country. The project
involved turning its quayside facilities into
a bio-secure zone for the loading of the
shipment destined for Antarctica.
• British Steel also exported over
140,000 tonnes of steel directly from
AV Dawson’s quayside facilities in 2018
destined for overseas markets.
• The port facilities were also used to
unload the tunnel boring machine, which
is being used to excavate the new tunnel
Icon - AV Dawson's wharf is situated
close to the Transporter Bridge.
that will transport polyhalite from Sirius
Minerals’ new mine.
• The company also boasts Stobart Energy
as a customer and recently started
working on the north shore of the Tees
to unload woodchip bound for the new
biomass plant in Billingham.
As well as operating from its site in
Middlesbrough, the business offers a range
of on-site logistics services for British Steel.
The firm’s base is not solely used for AV
Dawson operations, as the company has more
than 40 tenants operating out of its facilities.
Companies such as Prysmian Group, Modus
Seabed Intervention, Parkol Engineering and
Advanced Material Handling all call this area of
Middlesbrough home.
And one of the most visible landmarks
on the Teesside landscape is AV Dawson’s
42m-high fabrication halls, two of which are
currently available to rent.
In reality, AV Dawson has grown to
become the business it is today by building
complementary freight logistics services for
its customers.
So the next time you look over the
Teesside skyline and spot the white beacon-
like fabrication halls, remember there’s more
happening by the river than you ever knew.