North of England PD Ports expands container terminal at Teesport

PD PORTS has announced that it will channel investment into the first phase of a container terminal expansion at Yorkshire-Durham's Teesport, which will involve an investment of up to GBP29 million (US$44 million).

"We will shortly commence work on the expansion of our container handling facilities at Teesport, a long-term investment in our unitised business, on the back of major growth opportunities," said PD Ports unitised chief Frans Calje.

"This is the first phase of expanding Teesport's container terminal capacity to 450,000 TEU from its current capacity of 235,000 TEU - an investment of over GBP15 million," said Mr Calje.

The port's overall strategy is to expand port wide capacity 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 per cent 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," he said.

The first phase, which is expected to commence in November and last 10 months, will focus on reconfiguring the existing container terminal, 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.

"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," said Sam Pollock, CEO of Toronto-based Brookfield Infrastructure, owner of PD Ports.

In 2006, Walmart opened a 360,000 square foot distribution centre at Teesport and has saved more than eight million road miles by adopting the "portcentric" concept. Adjacent to the Walmart facility, Tesco opened a purpose-built 1.2 million square foot distribution centre there in 2009.
(Source:www.schednet.com)