Port of Tyne generates £500m for North East

The Port of Tyne has broken its own records for year-on-year growth since 2009, posting a turnover of £63m for 2012.

The impact of the Port’s success on the wider region’s Gross Value Added is estimated to be almost £500m, and has supported over 10,000 jobs.

An estimated £54m has been brought to the region through the cruise and ferry passengers using the Port’s International Passenger Terminal.

Cargo volumes have almost doubled and turnover has increased by more than half, as cash flow and profit before tax both increased fourfold.

Port of Tyne chairman, Sir Les Elton, said: “The Port’s strategy to diversify and invest in infrastructure is now coming to fruition. I would like to pay tribute to the staff of the Port who have picked up the gauntlet to transform and commercialise the business and at the same time have accommodated huge increases in activity levels.

“The challenge now will be to maintain these levels of activity whilst also preparing for, securing and implementing the new business opportunities that lie ahead.”

Andrew Moffat, CEO, added: “2012 was yet again a record year and our employees have all pulled out all the stops to ensure we not only delivered these excellent results but also managed to continue the cultural transformation across the organisation with some major milestones such as one of the highest scores in the country for Investors in People.

“It’s always hard to beat your own records but we will keep trying. Looking forward we are already planning major investment in our site and infrastructure to be able to accommodate the new renewable fuels – both in handling wood pellet and servicing offshore wind manufacturing.

“We are continuing to support existing customers with new developments including a second gantry crane (at a cost of £6m), development of newly acquired land, new IT systems and an enhanced focus on customer service for which we have become renowned.”

In February the Port announced plans to extend its main Riverside Quay and develop new facilities for handling, storage and transporting wood pellet in an £180m project that will create 300 new jobs, and 900 jobs in construction.

The key driver behind the positive results in 2012 was an increase of over 40% in bulk cargo handling – a record volume of 5m tonnes was achieved, at the highest level since 1989 - amounting to enough cargo to fill the new Wembley Stadium seven times.

This was mainly due to increased demand for coal for power stations. And, because of major investment in dredging to make the river its deepest ever, the Port has been able to meet the demand and accommodate the huge cargo ships that are now used for coal and other bulk cargoes such as steel, scrap metal, wood pellet and grain.

There were also record numbers in car handling, with export, import and transhipment of cars for Nissan and VW just beating last year’s record.

And whilst the number of containers handled did not quite break the existing record, the Logistics division brought in more iconic brand names into its customer portfolio, with Barbour and Ringtons joining JML, The Co-Operative Clothing, Tetley and Tommee Tippee.

The number of passengers using the International Passenger Terminal also increased to 600,000, with a good year for the Amsterdam ferry operator DFDS and an amazing doubling of the number of cruise ships making the Tyne their port of call.

The Port has also won a number of accolades in 2012, including North East Business of the Year, the global shipping company NYK’s Haulier of the Year, and achieving the Investors in People Silver Award with a score that placed it in the highest 2% in the country.

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