London, 8 May 2008 – PD Ports has announced that Frans Calje has been appointed to the new position of ‘Key Projects Director’.
Reporting to CEO David Robinson, Calje (a Dutch national) will assume responsibility for leading all the Northern Gateway Container Terminal (NGCT) project teams. He will be charged with overseeing the over £300m investment project in all future planning, construction and commercial aspects of this major new development at Teesport in the North East of England. The appointment is as a member of the PD Ports Executive Committee.
Calje brings considerable experience in the development of container terminals throughout Europe and in the USA, gained during a very progressive career within APM Terminals. As Senior Project Manager – Business Development for APM Terminals International, he led the $100 million JV project between APMT and global shipping line CMA/CGM to deliver a 30 year concession for the port of Mobile, Alabama. In his latest role as General Manager – Project Implementation and Business Development, amongst other notable achievements Frans has been instrumental in the successful APMT bid for the first concession at the new Rotterdam Maasvlakte 2 development, a project involving the investment of some Euro 420 million.
In the immediate term, Frans will be based in PD Ports’ head office at Queen’s Square, Middlesbrough. Alison Moss, recently appointed by PD Ports as “Legal Manager- Projects†will report to him on all legal aspects of the NGCT project. Moss joined PD Ports in February from northern based legal firm Dickinson Dees where she was employed as an associate in the company and commercial department. As the momentum behind NGCT continues to gather pace in coming weeks and months, other important new roles will be added to the PD Ports team that Calje will lead, and alternative accommodation arrangements will be needed to house the team other than in Queen’s Square.
According to David Robinson, CEO for PD Ports, “During his first month Frans will be taking the opportunity to visit as many PD Ports site locations as possible, in order to obtain a comprehensive introduction to the wider business of the Group, and the people, customers and suppliers involved in our business. We are delighted to have attracted in Frans someone with a great deal of international experience to lead this vital project. His experience and supplier contacts will be of critical importance to the projects early delivery.â€
“Today’s announcement of Frans’s appointment follows our recent news that PD Ports and Tesco will be bringing 800 new jobs to the UK, through the development of a state-of-the-art import centre in the North East of England. With this Tesco move, alongside the existing highly successful Asda Walmart import centre which opened at Teesport in spring 2006, we can see real momentum gathering behind our dream to create a major container handling portcentric logistics hub serving the North of England and Scotland based here in Teesport†concluded Robinson.
