Serving the Teesside Business Community | 35
or from northern Britain.
“The 15-hour sailing is more cost
efficient than more northerly routes and
by integrating our timetable with PD Ports'
expanded rail links to Scotland, we can
guarantee an unrivalled service to anyone
with logistics requirements to or from
Glasgow and Edinburgh.”
The Teesport Express is co-branded with
the logos of PD Ports and rail partner DB
Cargo, whose CEO Hans-Georg Werner
said: “We are delighted to celebrate such a
significant milestone alongside our partners
PD Ports.
“We originally started out running just
one service for PD Ports to our terminals
at Mossend and Grangemouth in Scotland.
However, demand was such that in October
last year we agreed to run a second service
as well.
“The loco-naming is a celebration of
our successful partnership, which I hope
will continue to grow and will ensure the
safe, speedy and sustainable delivery of
goods to key markets such as Scotland.
I look forward to continuing our positive
relationship to support the agenda for better
rail freight connectivity across the north of
the UK.”
Customers include Tesco, which has a
1.2 million square foot general merchandise
distribution centre located specifically
for access to Teesport, and ECS and
2XL (European Logistics Group), whose
chief executive Pieter Balcaen said: “Our
mission is to create sustainable and
reliable logistics, which means we focus
on sustainable transport and multi-modal
solutions to add value to our customers.”
The 26 vessels calling at Teesport each
week include daily sailings arriving from
Rotterdam and Zeebrugge, timed to
connect with the rail services to Scotland.
PD Ports believes the seven-hour
turnaround from ferries arriving into port
and the train departing for Scotland offers
an unrivalled service for both importers and
exporters.
The intermodal rail terminal opened in
2014 to service PD Ports’ existing container
business, which has delivered growth of
some 12% year-on-year for the last eight
years.
There are now 10 trains a week, giving
it more daily connections to Scotland than
any other northern port. There is also a daily
connection to Felixstowe.
PD Ports’ other UK facilities include the
short sea ports of Groveport, Howden and
Keadby and the largest single warehousing
facility at the Port of Felixstowe, as well as
operations at Medina Wharf, Isle of Wight.
It is also the Statutory Harbour Authority
for the ports of Teesport and Hartlepool,
ensuring safe navigation of vessels, river
management and maintaining channel
depth.
To find out more,
visit pdports.co.uk.