ISSUE 2 2010


NORTH EAST It’s the Tyne – but not as we know it


The question Glenn Brownlee, joint owner of Inter-Global Forwarding always gets asked is: How did you end up in Hexham?


The charming market town is on the River Tyne, but a long way upriver from the bustle and industry of Newcastle. The occasional puff of smoke wafts across from the local woodchip plant, but there is little else to disturb the green fields surrounding this charming Tynedale market town. “It was actually quite by chance. I and my business partner


AV Dawson sees strength in depth


Gary Dawson is having deep thoughts about the future of his family-owned shipping and transport business – 8.5 metres to be precise. It’s the depth which he reckons he needs to dredge the Dawsons Wharf quay in Middlesbrough to step up vessel size from the current 6,000-tonne maximum to around 10,000 tonnes.


Structural


engineers have been engaged and, subject to licensing being obtained, work should start by the end of the year. “It’s where the market is heading to at the moment – ships are getting bigger,” he says. Cargoes are getting bulkier, with the new green fuels such as biomass that are increasingly being used in power stations – the North-East has been designated a Low Carbon Region. The company recently handled its first cargo of animal feed, a by-product of a local ethanol plant. A few years ago, a typical


bulk cargo might have weighed around one tonne per cubic metre; now many are only 0.4t. “We recognised that our traditional markets are very mature,” continues Dawson. “So we made investments specifically designed to handle these lower density products, including a new Gottwald crane.” The company has also acquired


land on which to build 80,000sq ft of dry bulk storage. Another promising new


avenue is wind power. “We’re very hopeful that with the Dogger Bank development, we could become a logistics hub for the wind industry.” The most noticeable AV Dawson facility – you can hardly miss it - is the huge fabrication hall bought from Kvaerner, originally used to build oil rig accommodation platforms, but which could also be offered for wind turbine assembly.


“We could offer the industry a


whole package of services, along with full track and trace and we also have a specialist paint company – Tees Valley Coatings – here on site.” Another addition to the portfolio is ship’s agency Cockfield Knight. AV Dawson has also offered its customers some novel solutions. The local Corus rolling mills (still in business – the mothballed


had been working for a company at Newcastle airport but we were looking to set up our own company. We discovered that rents at the airport were very high but he had a small office in Hexham, so we moved there in 1982. We quickly outgrew that, but we expanded into our new premises, and we’ve been here ever since.” Hexham is actually only a 30-minute drive from


Newcastle airport and little more than that from the city centre. In fact, the town of Haltwhistle a few miles to the west on the A69 claims to be the geographical centre of Britain, so perhaps Glenn Brownlee is on to something. Actually, only a handful of


Inter Global’s customers are from Hexham itself and they can be as far away as Oxfordshire or


Nottingham– and one is based in Germany. “I don’t think distance matters – people will use a forwarder that they trust.” Interglobal offers a full range


of sea, air and road services, along with local collection and delivery with its 7.5-tonner and Sprinter van. The company employs seven people and operates from a warehouse and office in an industrial estate on


the outskirts of the town. “Our customers value the fact


that we can offer a personal service and that they’re not just a number. If you use a big operator, will you be dealing with the same person in the afternoon as in the morning?”


15


AV Dawson takes delivery of a new crane to boost its prescence in the local handling market


Redcar plant produced steel slab) used to conventionally ship steel to the US, which meant long lead times while enough cargo to fill a ship was accumulated. AV Dawson however developed a technique for loading steel inside containers, which meant that it could use the frequent liner services from Liverpool instead. The AV Dawson site is also rail-linked. It takes in regular trainloads of South Wales steel for Nissan and the company operates a small fleet of shunting locos to bring wagons in from the nearby rail yard. As Gary Dawson explains,


“We’ve got all the attributes of a large port here, but on a compact scale.”


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