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34


NORTH EAST FEATURE


Port of Tyne has shrugged off the economic gloom, says commercial director for logistics, John Tye. “We were expecting 2010 to be a difficult year, but Nissan has been very successful with their new models which have boosted imports of containerised components, along with JML, which moved its base from Dartford to the North-East,” he told FBJ.


Import and export volumes remain strong and the Port of Tyne has one of the highest ratios of loaded export containers to imports of any major UK port. Moreover, this has been achieved at a time when imports have also been increasing, points out the port’s commercial manager for logistics, Richard Newton. Some of the increase is down to the new models being produced at the Nissan factory based in Sunderland. New models mean that the supply chain has to be stocked


with new components and spare parts, a process that takes a couple of years. But even putting this to one side, much of


John Tye: working hard on his exports


the growth has been from other customers including JML and Tetley, along with a host of other customers.


The port has also been increasing its catchment area, John Tye continues. “We’re looking further afield, targeting importers as far down as Sheffield. We can often offer a better service, not just in terms of the port itself but the supply chain as a whole, including the onward delivery.” He says that the Port of Tyne is unique in that it can offer a complete supply chain service from berth to the customer’s door including stevedoring,


warehousing, transport and distribution. This all-in-one approach gives much better supply chain


control, meaning that


“we can be much more accurate in hitting delivery times than large southern ports where you have problems with the road infrastructure.”


The port is about to embark on a new import contract for a retailer of around 40-50 boxes a week to the Sheffield area. “One of the reasons we got the business is that we were able to offer night deliveries to a dedicated container park, which takes away a lot of the ‘panic’ – it means that when they start work


in the morning, they know what has arrived, and we are able to offer improved delivery time, even though a feeder shipping service is involved. And also, because we’re in charge of the operation, if the customer wants to we can change which containers get delivered right up to 4 or 5pm the previous afternoon.”


Part of the port’s success in attracting new import business, paradoxically,


is its success


in developing export traffic, expands John Tye. “The more you can export, the more attractive it is for the shipping lines.” Many of the exports are quite low value – recycled materials, for example – but they


help improve the


economics of the operation and mean that boxes do not have to be returned empty or stored for long periods until an export load does materialise. John


Tye believes that the chances of getting a reload from


the North-East are much higher than from a southern port. “That’s partly because we work very hard at it, and we also work hard to ensure that everyone gets the benefits of that – importers, exports and the shipping lines. I think one reason we’ve been successful is that we have been good at reaching the right supply chain decision-makers.”


Richard Newton adds: “Also, because we’re doing the delivery ourselves, if we have a box going to, say, Carlisle, and we have an exporter in that area, we can call them, drop the first box and then do a reload. It all helps to keep costs down.”


A recent success for the Port has been the addition of the new Unifeeder service to Hamburg, Gdynia and Gdansk in March, which has brought a direct link to the Baltic region for the first time. Feederlink are the other major operator, which ensures


ISSUE 3 2011 Rapid reloads are secret of Port of Tyne’s success


choice and competition for local shippers.


As for the port’s car traffic,


Tyne was in fact one of Europe’s fastest growing car ports in 2010 and is now well within the top ten. Imports doubled in 2010 over 2009 while the somewhat larger export trade grew by a third, with overall growth close to 50% for the year, giving a figure of over 550,000 cars in total – not far short of an all-time record. Main car traffics are Nissans whose Sunderland manufacturing plant makes the Qashqai and Juke- and VW Group. The port has also received its first shipment of the Nissan Leaf electric vehicle. Vehicle handler is Höegh also operates the Höegh Northern Terminal that opened in June 201 and handles a variety of OEMs A further option is the DFDS ferry to Ijmuiden near Amsterdam, although this is mainly a passenger carrier, especially in summer.


Global forwarder thinks local


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Diverse freight


Rhenus Logistics is a big supporter of North-east ports, says the forwarder’s overseas manager, Mike Offless. While the company’s main air and seafreight office is in Bradford in west Yorkshire, “wherever we can we use Teesport or South Shields (Port of Tyne),” he explains. “We find that using them as the port of export can keep costs down, though sometimes it can impact on transit time. And we like to support local ports – and airports – wherever we can.”


Rhenus Logistics, whose local


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office is at Newton Aycliffe just off the A1(M) motorway north of Darlington, finds that the two North-east ports can be effective for full-load boxes. It cuts out the long road or rail haul to a southern UK port and can save carbon as well as cash. The main point to watch, says Offless, is to check how long it will sit at the transhipment point on the Continent.


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The history of Rhenus Logistics’ Newton Aycliffe office goes back to the 1990s when Hauser opened an office there as part of its expansion in the UK. Hauser then joined the


German IHG Group and became part of Rhenus in 2005/06, giving the German operator a presence in the North-east. Rhenus is now among Europe’s largest forwarders and owns Cuxport in Germany as


well as facilities throughout


Europe. Another recent purchase was Netherlands-based Roadair. Bradford concentrates on air


and ocean, while the Newton Aycliffe office’s speciality is road freight. Local manager, Margaret Sowerby says: “We are probably the biggest forwarder for chemicals in the North-east.” Chemicals are in fact an almost inevitable fact of life for anyone involved in freight in the North- east but otherwise the freight handled in Newton Aycliffe is a real mixture – anything from automotive


parts through


specialist plastics to pipes or ship’s


spares. “What seems to have happened is that a lot of the manufacturing companies have drifted north” hence the astonishing variety of companies that can now be found in the area.


Moreover there has been some good news on the manufacturing front in the region, in contrast to the doom and gloom that prevailed 12 months ago ahead of the Government cutbacks. Railway builder Hitachi is setting up a factory just down the road from Rhenus’s Newton Aycliffe terminal to build the new generation of high speed intercity


express trains that are due to be replace the ageing diesel Intercity 125 trains on Britain’s railways over the next few years. “The plant is expected to employ 2,000 people and could be as big as Nissan, so it is very good news for the area” explains Margaret Sowerby.


Further good news is the decision by the pigments division of chemical firm Huntsman to move


its existing operations


at Wilton and Haverton Hill near Middlesbrough to a single dedicated site at Wynyard Park on Teesside, a move which demonstrates the company’s continued commitment to


the


North East. And Japanese-owned Nifco, which makes plastic injection-moulding components for the automotive industry is also about to start work on a new £8.5m factory in Stockton. Teesside is particularly well- placed to take advantage of the recovery in regional industry, Margaret Sowerby believes. The region has good road links and access to major local ports but at the same time has good road links and is not too far south to be out of reach of London and the major southern ports and airports. Local hauliers have though been having a hard time and several local firms have recently gone out of business. The high cost of diesel has tipped some firms over the edge in what is still an ultra-competitive industry.


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