Tesco confirms import centre

May 2 2008 Evening Gazette

WORK is set to start by the summer on a £50m import centre as supermarket giant Tesco today confirmed it would be taking over the site on the Tees.

The Evening Gazette revealed in December that Tesco was considering the site with bosses saying they were “very interested” in the development - which is set to create 800 jobs during the next two years.

Today PD Ports said it had reached an agreement with he retailer to create the 1.2 million sq ft centre.

The project will also create new jobs among suppliers and logistics companies serving the centre and several hundred construction posts during the two-year build programme.

PD Ports’ recently approved outline plans for the import centre include car parking spaces for 450 staff as well as lorry parking spaces for 350 vehicles.

The complex will be built to Tesco’s design on brownfield land that is currently undeveloped within PD Ports’ 700-acre Tees Dock estate.

“We are delighted to have signed a deal with the leading UK retailer Tesco to create another major import centre at Tees Dock,” said David Robinson, group chief executive of PD Ports.

“With this agreement now in place we are hoping to see construction start in July with the first part of the new import centre operational by autumn 2009.”

Tesco will be the new neighbour to Asda Walmart, which already operates a 360,000 sq ft centre from the dock.

But the £50m shed will be almost four times the size of Asda’s and is likely to trigger a £10m-£20m upgrade of the freight rail link between the port and the east coast mainline.