PD PORTS ANNOUNCES EXPANSION OF CONTAINER TERMINAL CAPACITY AT TEESPORT

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PD Ports has announced that it will channel significant investment into the first phase of expansion plans at Teesport, which will potentially involve some £29M of total investment.

Frans Calje, PD Ports’ MD Unitised, said “I am delighted to announce that we will shortly commence work on the expansion of our container handling facilities at Teesport, which signifies a long term investment in our unitised business, on the back of major growth opportunities. This will further improve performance and productivity for the port’s growing number of customers.

“This is the first phase of expanding Teesport’s container terminal capacity to 450,000 TEU (Twenty Foot Equivalent Unit), from its current capacity of 235,000 TEU – an investment of over £15M. Subsequent phases will be investigated subject to volume growth and market stability with the total project potentially involving some £29M. The port’s overall strategy is to expand port wide capacity, including RoRo traffic, to at least 650,000 TEU, which will position Teesport as a major player in the container market.

“In the first six months of 2010 we have achieved significant success at our Teesport container terminals, handling 129,000 TEU – an incredible growth of over 62 percent in volume compared to the first six months of 2009. PD Ports has, yet again, out-performed the market place in what is still a turbulent time for businesses globally.”

The first phase, which is expected to commence in November and last approximately 10 months, will focus on the reconfiguring of the existing container terminal layout, including all associated civil works and installation of new rubber tyre gantry cranes. This will be supported by the implementation of a sophisticated terminal management system.

Once fully complete, it is estimated some 50 new jobs will be created within the terminal together with a further 200 new jobs to support the overall supply chain. This will complement the 1,300 jobs that have been directly created over the past five years as a result of portcentric logistics operations in and around the port.

The expansion project is an important component of the business’ strategy to diversify its service offering into new markets, including portcentric logistics and renewable power.

“The Teesport expansion initiative highlights the unique nature of this facility, its strong market position as one of the UK’s top ports and its considerable growth opportunities in existing and new markets,” commented Sam Pollock, Chief Executive Officer of Brookfield Infrastructure, owner of PD Ports.

PD Ports’ recent growth in container volumes at its Teesport container terminals coincides with the highly successful portcentric logistics strategy adopted by the port in recent years. The success of portcentric logistics at Teesport has attracted leading retailers Asda and Tesco, as well as Taylors of Harrogate.

Since opening an import centre at Teesport in 2006 to serve its Northern UK markets, ASDA estimates it has saved over 8M road miles and significantly reduced its C02 emissions. Taylors of Harrogate also states that by shipping its products direct to Teesport and storing them on-site prior to their final short leg journey to Harrogate, the business will significantly reduce its carbon footprint.

PD Ports has also attracted a number of new container services to Teesport over the last eighteen months, including BG Freight, Samskip, Feederlink and Unifeeder, carrying boxes for all major global container lines.

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