A SHIPPING container businesses founded by a North-East entrepreneur is expanding to meet increased demand.  

Parsons Containers, based in Sedgefield, County Durham is has doubled its container sales turnover in the last two years, and increased its local workforce to 16 after adapting to chaging demands during the economic downturn. 

The company’s sales drive will be led by Stephen Collins, who has been promoted to container sales manager. Mr Collins has been with the business since he left school ten years ago. 

Founded in 2000, Parsons Containers has two main divisions. It hires and sells containers in the North East and nationally and also offers self storage under the brand of U Hold The Key, operating on nine sites, eight in the region and one in Grantham, generating a turnover of £1.5m.  

The company was one of the first businesses in the UK to offer shipping containers for self storage in this way and currently has more than 1,000 containers, used by domestic customers and small businesses. 

A third division of Parsons is online sales business Container Container, created in 2007.  

Parent company Parsons Containers was founded by local entrepreneur Ean Parsons as a container hire business, but a high demand for the U Hold The Key business took the company towards the self storage market. 

As the economy dipped during the recession, Parsons adapted the business and container sales emerged as the driving force for the firm. It continues to perform well and has been strengthened by the recent recruitment of Louise Coleman as hire controller.

Mr Parsons said: “Every February between 2000 and 2007, people would start moving house and demand for container self storage would go up.  When the usual peak of business didn’t happen in 2008, we knew that there was something seriously amiss in the economy.

"I’m very proud of the way we were able to adapt our business to trade through the recession and in the process build a very successful container sales division. 

“At the same time, we continued to develop U Hold The Key and we now have a very strong foundation in the North-East, with sites in Tyne and Wear, County Durham and Teesside. 

"We’re now starting to see a new upturn in the demand for self storage.  With the great platform that we already have and by boosting our workforce, our aim is to grow back into the container hire market and match the growth we have experienced in sales and self-storage.

“Stephen has been an important member of the team for a decade and has built up a wealth of knowledge about the industry. He is well respected by his colleagues and his many other business contacts. Stephen’s promotion to container sales manager is thoroughly deserved and I am sure that he will be very successful in his new role.”

Mr Parsons, who began his career in the merchant navy, has been working in the container industry for over 30 years.  

He is a well-known figure in the North-East grass roots sports community. 

Mr Parsons founded Sedgefield Harriers in 2005 and is chairman of the Sedgefield Village Games, an organisation that supports and promotes sport in the town. 

In addition, he is spearheading a campaign to build a new athletics track and field events facilities in Sedgefield.