This Is Tees Valley This Is Tees Valley - Issue 1 2020 | Seite 44

How Teesport can lead the way
H
aving invested heavily in the latest
technology, everything is now in
place for PD Ports to realise its
long-term vision of developing a deep-water
container terminal on the River Tees.
The UK currently brings in around 85%
of the country’s total volume of imports
through ports in the South-East which is
then moved mainly by lorry, leading to an
overburdened road network and increased
levels of CO2 emissions.
Traditional routes are not the smart
solution for importing and exporting goods.
Somewhere in the region of eight million
containers enter the UK annually. The major
container ports are all in the South and
South-East where the road networks are
incredibly congested and rail infrastructure
is creaking.
PD Ports has long argued bringing in the
containers closest to their end destination –
northern ports for northern-bound goods,
using a port which can handle and distribute
Deep commitment - Tees operations
at PD Ports.
containers efficiently.
Teesport is the optimal port for this
northern-bound trade with a multimodal
platform offering more than 30 rail services
each week and more rail connections to
Scotland than any other port in the country.
This logic led Tesco and Asda Walmart
to pursue opportunities at Teesport and set
up major import facilities to enable them to
unload non-food goods and then distribute
them throughout the UK without the need
to move to an inland centre first.
Call for Tees
Valley Free Port
S
o what’s next for Teesport and
the UK maritime industry? The
concept of free ports continues to
gain significant interest and is described
by Jerry Hopkinson, PD Ports’ COO
and vice chairman, as a generational
opportunity for the Tees Valley.
“I can’t think of a better case for the
granting of Free Port status than here in
the Tees Valley,” says Jerry.
“We have one of the deepest rivers in
the UK and can take some of the world’s
biggest ships. Depending on the cargo,
we think the River Tees can handle more
than 80m tonnes. That’s very substantial
indeed.”
That’s not all. The Tees Valley’s
industrial heritage includes a vast expanse
of brownfield land that could service the
manufacturing opportunities Free Port
status could bring.
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“On
the south
bank alone
Freeport ambition - PD Ports COO Jerry
Hopkinson (left) with James Ramsbotham, CEO
there’s
of North East of England Chamber of Commerce.
around
4,800 acres
a new centre and the UK could be
of land, principally the site of the former
considered, we want to promote the Tees
steelworks,” says Jerry.
Valley.”
“The gateway into that is Teesport but
A report from Mace last year discussed
this isn’t simply about the port; it is more
the benefit of creating Supercharged
about what it will bring to the wider
Free Ports which introduce the idea of
region.
combining Free Ports with enterprise
“Free Port status could help to drive
zones - locally designated areas subject
industry, which is globally moveable, to
to tax relief to encourage private
choose to move to the UK, and to locate
investment.
here in our region. We’re not looking at
The report suggested Supercharged
moving industry that’s already operating
Free Ports should be located around
successfully elsewhere in the UK into
existing industrial clusters across the
the Free Port area either – that wouldn’t
North to turbo-charge economic growth
achieve anything.
and trade, including Teesport and
“But where an international
Hartlepool amongst others.
manufacturer is looking at setting up