British PM Tours Port of Tyne

The British Prime Minister David Cameron popped into the Port of Tyne on Friday, May 16th. Accompanied by Martin Callanan MEP, the Prime Minister took in a bird’s eye view of the Port from the top of a 70m high container shipping crane.

The new gantry crane, costing £6m, was installed at the end of 2013 and has enabled the port to accommodate larger container ships, attract new business and improve operational efficiency.

The Port of Tyne is the UK’s fastest growing major deep-sea port, providing a vital connection to Europe and beyond for trade and industry.

The Port’s CEO, Andrew Moffat, said: “We were pleased to be able to show the Prime Minister and Martin Callanan around the port and the view from the top of the gantry crane is spectacular, enabling our guests to see the scale and breadth of the port’s operations like no other vantage point.

“We have just had our busiest time for almost 50 years and handled record volumes of cargo and numbers of passengers.

We remain the UK’s no. 1 car exporting port and import about a third of the UK’s raw tea. We are also exporting manufacturing parts, retail goods, recyclable materials and grain.”

Andrew, who was elected Chairman of the British Ports’ Association in April, added: “We have ambitious plans to develop the potential in renewable energies. So there was plenty to talk about.”

The Prime Minister also met the Port’s 16 apprentices – from engineering to business administration – and took a walk along the main Riverside Quay.

Mr Cameron tweeted: “Incredible success story at bustling Port of Tyne, turnover has soared 50% to £63m since 2009, with a long term economic plan.”

It was very interesting to see the port from that elevated perspective and to hear about its growth and development plans. It was also good to meet some very motivated apprentices on the first step of their careers. The Port of Tyne has made sure it has taken advantage of opportunities and developed them to build a vibrant and successful business.”

The Port of Tyne reported record growth in 2013 and won the North East Business of the Year title. It is in the top 2% of Investors in People Silver companies and last year made an ongoing commitment to donate every year 1% of profit to its Community Action Fund.

[mappress]
Port of Tyne, May 19, 2014