TEESPORT operator PD Ports said yesterday it had created 60 jobs and expects to create a further 30, as it signed a tenyear partnership deal with steelmaker Corus.

The port will handle more than three million tonnes of steel for export over the next ten years after Corus' Redcar plant signed a long-term deal to provide steel to a global consortium.

PD Ports said last night that the value of the deal was confidential, but it had invested £8.5m in steel-handling facilities at the port.

About 60 jobs have been created since Teesport started exporting steel slab for Corus last year.

And Trevor Meredith, of PD Teesport, said another 30 would be created soon to handle the extra volumes.

Corus' Teesside Cast Products (TCP) business last year signed a deal with a consortium to supply it with steel for the next ten years.

TCP's deal with Teesport will see three million tonnes of slab going through the port each year.

Both businesses have put a lot of time and money in technology and new working practices to ensure the steel handling and dispatch is worldclass.

As part of a £40m investment in TCP, announced in February, Corus has also invested in a rail link direct from its slab yard to Teesport.

Jon Bolton, managing director of TCP, said: "We have both invested time and money and both businesses and our consortium members are benefiting as a result."

He said speed of loading on to vessels was very efficient, and productivity at TCP - crucial to its future - also continued to improve.

PD Teesport's has spent money on equipment such as cranes and forklifts.

David Robinson, managing director for PD Teesport, said: "This investment is a clear reflection of our commitment to constantly improving the quick and efficient handling of steel slabs at the port and the service we offer our customers such as TCP."

PD Ports was taken over by Australian group Babcock and Brown earlier this year.

It is hoping to expand Teesport even further by building a deep-sea container terminal to receive goods directly from the Far East - a move backed by The Northern Echo through the Support Our Port campaign.

A naming ceremony held yesterday at PD Teesport saw Mr Bolton officially name one of the new steel-handling cranes "John Vaughan" after the man who discovered iron ore in the Cleveland Hills.