N-E port is second largest in Britain

Teesport, owned by the PD Ports group, last year handled 53.8 million tonnes of cargo -only two million tonnes less than the leading port at Grimsby, and two million tonnes more than London.

The Department for Transport yesterday published its statistics on port traffic, which showed that the Tees and Hartlepool port handles the second-largest amount of freight in the UK.

Martin Pellew, the group development director at PD Teesport, said the company's successful rail links with Manchester, Scotland and Workington, in Cumbria, had helped increase port traffic.

He said: "One of the things we are working on at the moment is using the Tees to deliver products to northern companies.

"These come from what we call deep-sea vessels, which come from the Far East, and they can unload at a southern port and reload a smaller boat to come up to Teesside.

"This means there is less congestion on the roads and railways and means we are handling more cargo.

"At the moment, for instance, there are plastic Christmas trees and decorations coming through from the Far East for northern retailers.

"We then transport cargo to Scotland, the North-West and the North-East, and in the future, we will be looking at targeting the Midlands to increase our traffic."

The tonnage handled by Teesport last year included rock-salt and potash from Boulby potash mine, in east Cleveland, iron ore, coal, and steel to and from Corus' Teesside plants, and products for the Teesside chemical industry.

The port deals with freight from the Far East as well as from the Baltic states, Amsterdam, Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic.

Last year, PD Ports opened a new container terminal on the River Tees, and set up its North-West train service, which has taken more than 700,000 lorry miles off the road in a year.

The rail connection from Teesport to Manchester came as a response to customer demand in the North-West from shipping lines, importers and exporters.