Port of Tyne – UK’s Fastest Growing Major Deep Sea Port

The Port of Tyne is officially the UK’s fastest growing major deep sea port – a vital trading gateway to world-wide markets.

95% of all goods coming in and out of the country are transported by ship – everything from parts for manufacturing and babies’ bottles to cars and subsea machinery.

In recent times the Port of Tyne has invested over £120m in infrastructure, machinery and in its people to make sure it keeps pace with world markets and can provide what its customers want.

The result is that the Port has broken its own records three years running for the volume of cargo it has handled and its financial performance.

Winning the accolade of North East Business of the Year in 2013 was the icing on the cake for the Port, which can already boast that it is the UK’s largest car exporter, the sixth largest car port in Europe, the fourth largest coal importer in the UK and one of the largest handlers of wood pellet in the world.

The Port has a 620 acre working estate spanning both sides of the Tyne and also has responsibility for safe navigation of the river for 19 miles upriver and 3 miles out to sea.

All the profit made by the Port is used for the benefit of its stakeholders and much is re-invested back into the infrastructure and facilities. Recent investment in dredging the river means the Port can now accommodate 86% of the world’s largest cargo ships and 95% of the world’s cruise fleet. Other investments have included infilling the former Tyne Dock to create an extra 14 acres of land, acquiring new sites on both sides of the river to bring into industrial and port use, and in machinery. The recent purchase of a new gantry crane for container ships cost £6m alone.

The crane extends the capacity of the busy container terminal which links to a UK wide distribution network with a fleet of more than 180 trucks and trailers. Their now familiar blue and white livery is seen every day on roads all over Britain.

Warehouses, industrial units and offices provide a base for many businesses on the Port site such as Solar Solve Marine, Simon Storage, Ford Aerospace and it is also the headquarters of the TV shopping company JML.

Other big brand names that work with the Port to get their goods in and out of the region include Nissan and Komatsu, for the import of parts and the export of the finished cars and heavy plant machinery. IHC Engineering Business based at the Port creates some of the gigantic machinery and parts required for undersea cabling and offshore engineering .

With customers like Tata Global (owners of the Tetley tea brand), Ringtons and Spicer, the Port of Tyne handles 35% of the UK’s raw tea imports. Other goods coming in and out of the Tyne range from Tommee Tippee baby goods to brand new VW and Nissan cars, from Barbour jackets to Campbell’s shortbread biscuits. Then there are the huge bulk cargoes of coal and wood pellets destined for power stations, steel for industry, and export of plastic, paper and scrap metals for recycling.

The Port also operates an award-winning International Passenger Terminal for ferries and cruise ships at North Shields – named UK’s Best Port of Call – which welcomes 600,000 passengers each year on cruise or ferries. Half of these are visitors to the region, supporting the local tourism economy.

All of this activity across the 620 acre site contributes an estimated £500m to the North East regional economy, directly and indirectly supporting 10,500 jobs.

The total value of goods imported and exported across its busy quays each year is valued to be over £10 billion. The North East is the only region in the UK that has a positive balance of trade – i.e. that it exports more than it imports – and the Port of Tyne plays a major role, handling more than half of all exports in the region.

And of the future – the Port has plans to ensure its site and assets are used to bring more economic growth to the region and is working on an £180m development to increase wood pellet facilities on the South estate and to develop an offshore base on the North estate.

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Press Release, November 19, 2013