£300m expansion ahead of rival sites would help ease Southern discomfort

THERE have been tears on the steel river for as long as most Teessiders can remember. Only last week, The Northern Echo revealed that Swan Hunter had mothballed the Tees' last remaining shipbuilding yard, with the loss of 200 jobs, while it waits for more orders.

Jobs in steelworks, shipyards, coal mines and factories, have been lost in the North-East in recent decades as the traditional jobs slipped away.

The River Tees, once the glistening jewel at the heart of the industrial revolution, became a dirty, redundant stretch of water during the Thatcher years.

Middlesbrough became a thriving town in the 19th Century solely because it was so close to the North Sea and had an excellent port.

The past ten years have seen a renaissance on the Tees, with the building of the Barrage, at Stockton, and a white-water canoeing course.

Almost unthinkable 20 years ago, sailing boats now glide across the glassy waters upriver of the barrage, and a pleasure boat ferries sightseers through green countryside.

And, closer to the estuary, Teesport is undergoing a sea change.

Plans are being discussed to invest £300m in a deep-sea container terminal that would bring freight from the Far East and elsewhere, into job-creating distribution centres, before being sent out to shops across the North and the Midlands.

But Teesside needs Government support, it needs to be given priority over crowded, already-prosperous southern ports.

Teesport's Middlesbrough-based parent company, PD Ports, is on the main list of the London Stock Exchange, and bosses have helped the Tees become the second-largest container port in the UK.

The Tees is again putting bread in the region's mouth.

However, the economic divide between the North and South still stands at £29bn.

Despite the Government's Northern Way initiative to close the gap, many business leaders in the North-East fear the initiative will only reach as far as Leeds, Manchester -and, at best, Newcastle.

But a crucial part of the Labour strategy is recommending a national ports strategy, which will allow balanced expansion across the UK.

Ironically, it was only the Conservative shadow cabinet which, in the run-up to the General Election, pledged to back Teesport's bid to invest £300m in a deep-sea container terminal.

The party's transport spokesman, Tim Yeo, moved Teesport to the top of the political agenda when he pledged he would support expansion there and create a national ports strategy.

Leading Labour MPs, including Tony Blair and Alan Milburn, who both have North-East constituencies, dodged the issue before May 5, although Mr Blair has asked for copies of The Northern Echo's articles on the issue.

But Teesside MPs Ashok Kumar, Vera Baird and Dari Taylor have got behind the campaign.

Now, Martyn Pellew, group development director at PD Ports, is trying to keep the momentum going.

He is planning a meeting with the new Transport Minister Stephen Ladyman to urge him to allow Teesport a fast-tracked planning application.

PD Ports also wants the Government to develop the national ports strategy before it decides on three applications for the already-congested southern ports in the summer.

Teesside, and its potential for 7,000 port jobs, faces a race against time.

Mr Pellew said: "We have sent a letter to Stephen Ladyman to ask for a meeting as quickly as possible.

"Unfortunately, he does not have a background in the North-East, so we are looking to give him a briefing on what this could mean for the region.

"We are looking to pull together all the local MPs to support the plan."

Documents looking at the impact the port development would have are being prepared and could be ready as early as next month.

Mr Pellew said: "The Government has offered to help us get our application together as quickly as we can, but we are still hoping they will fast-track it once it is in."

PD Ports argues that developing Teesport instead of allowing the three port applications in Felixstowe, Harwich and on the Thames to go ahead, would:

* Take millions of lorry miles off the roads by driving Northern goods through Northern ports, rather than imports from the Far East being offloaded in the South and then taken north by lorry;

* Go some way to closing the £29bn economic output gap with the South;

* Improve access to the North's sea ports;

* Help stop capacity shortages at UK ports -Teesport's development could be ready in three years;

* Stop "Southern discomfort" by cutting down on congestion on roads and rail;

* Develop hundreds of acres of brownfield land, unlike some of the Southern ports, which want to develop greenbelt land in nature reserves.

Planning inquiries have already been held into potential developments at Felixstowe, Harwich and Thamesport, with massive opposition from local residents.

Some have even formed action groups to stop the developments, which are near their homes, nature reserves and important historical sites.

Residents at Shell Haven, on the Thames, have even complained that they do not need any more jobs there.

This is a far cry from the Teesport development, which Redcar MP Vera Baird said "could almost wipe out" unemployment in the surrounding areas.

Still, Mr Pellew is worried about Teesport's case. In a recent letter, he urged MPs to back the plan, saying: "The Northern Way strategy recommends not only a national ports strategy, but also taking the opportunity to expand the share of cargoes using the North's ports.

"PD Teesport's planned expansion directly supports this important policy.

"We need support from all levels of Government to succeed.

"But we are particularly concerned that Southern ports in the UK will be given priority to expand before considering those in the North."

Ms Baird believes the plan at Teesport could create many more than 7,000 jobs.

She said: "I think there are no limits. There will be a large number of ships coming in, there are going to be warehouses, docks, a lot of cheap land around the river mouth, factories will be built, and there ought to be an unlimited opportunity for jobs at all levels.

"The people at PD Ports are highly ambitious and visionary.

"Teesport has the capacity, labour, skills, experience and land for this to succeed, whereas some of the ports in the South have a very slow turnaround, not enough land to build on, and they are all full to capacity."

* The Northern Echo has been backing Teesport's expansion plan through its Support Our Port campaign.