Port of Tyne increases container handling capacity to keep Britain moving

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Now, in the final days of the transition period before Brexit and after 10 months of challenging supply chain conditions due to Coronavirus, Port of Tyne has a clear message to shipping providers, cargo owners and freight forwarders.

“We’re fully open, there’s no congestion, goods are moving freely in and out of the port and we are doing everything we can to help ports in the south east of the UK. Port of Tyne has extra capacity to further increase our cargo handling volumes and we’re here to keep Britain moving,” says Richard Newton, Commercial Director for Logistics at Port of Tyne.

The Port of Tyne is one of the UK’s leading deep-sea ports, takes almost 90% of the world’s largest ships and has been working tirelessly to support container movements and minimise the current delays faced by end users in the region. Due to increased volumes of goods arriving for the Christmas festive period and the legacy supply chain impact of Covid-19, in recent weeks the Port of Tyne has seen a significant increase in vessel calls and associated container volumes.

To alleviate the supply chain disruption seen at ports elsewhere in the UK, the Port of Tyne has been supporting shipping lines and feeder operators by allocating additional berths to assist in the evacuation of empty containers to a variety of north European ports for European consumption. This ensures containers are used for loaded export shipments and reduces the number of empty containers shipped back to Asia.

Richard Newton adds: “We are here to help everyone in the supply chain including shipping lines, freight forwarders, end users and hauliers, and we want to demonstrate that there has never been a better time to re-configure supply chains and shipping routes into the UK. We’ll handle your containers so that the environmental, cost and efficiency benefits from shipping goods closer to the point of consumption are realised.”

Routing containers into northern ports like the Port of Tyne and then distributing goods down the country is quicker, cheaper, greener and there’s less congestion for hauliers travelling from north to south.

“We have excellent road and rail transport links, many years of experience in the container and roll on roll off market and we’re here to help keep Britain moving”, says Richard.

Key benefits of shipping into the Port of Tyne

As one of only two deep sea ports in the north east, Port of Tyne offers a number of key advantages for container shippers:

  • Regular and scheduled feeder connections to the global gateways of Felixstowe and Rotterdam;

  • Operational capability to handle large container feeder vessels of up to 230m and 13 container rows across;

  • Flexible labour agreements with the ability to accommodate short notice changes in vessel scheduling;

  • Integrated logistics offering with an in-house transport fleet to perform the ‘final mile’ delivery;

  • Excellent relationships with the key stakeholders in containers shipping supply chains;

  • Environmental, cost and operational efficiency benefits from shipping goods closer to the point of consumption.

  • Cost efficient alternative route to market with an established daily coastal feeder service to save road miles.