Port bosses hail Corus plan
Sep 3 2010 by Kelley Price, Evening Gazette
Speaking about the proposed SSI deal, he added: “There’s still a lot of work to do to get this over the line, and until we know the facts we can’t speculate, but we’re very pleased and very encouraged by what’s happened.
“This is not a done deal, but we will support those involved as much as we can. We see the PD Ports role as a facilitator.”
On the back of Corus’ mothballing announcement PD Ports - which had previously exported around 2.4million tonnes of steel slab through Teesport each year - began consultation with its staff over the possibility of making 120 redundancies.
However, while around 60 staff volunteered to leave the business, growth in other areas - such as its container handling operations at Teesport - meant no further job cuts were required with staff re-deployed into other areas of the business.
SSI currently buys about four million tonnes of steel per year.
It plans to produce 3.5 million tonnes of slab steel on Teesside - its full capacity - and export it all to Thailand.
If the deal is green-lighted, Mr Robinson said it could see new jobs created at the port.
“Assuming the deal goes ahead and the cargo moves to the port there’s a very strong likelihood we will employ more people.”
Corus’ monopile facility, on a 3,000-acre plot, could create 220 jobs.
In June, Teesport - the UK’s fourth largest port - launched the first phase of a £29m investment programme to take capacity at its fast expanding container handling facility from 235,000 teus (twenty foot equivalent unit) to 450,000 teus.
Bosses say the burgeoning volumes are based on a “highly successful port-centric logistics business” and a storage and distribution hub that has attracted such retailing giants as Asda, Tesco and Taylors of Harrogate.
