UK NORTH EAST\\\


Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, said he was impressed by the “brilliant businesses” he’d seen on tour of Teesside on 24 July – including Middlesbrough logistics specialist AV Dawson. He also had the time to take


in TAG Energy Solutions, at Billingham,


and EDF Energy’s


offshore windfarm base at Redcar. AV Dawson celebrates its


75th anniversary this year and has invested £10m in a growth plan, which includes £1.2m of funding allocated through the Government’s Regional Growth Fund (RGF). On Mr Alexander’s tour of the


100-acre site he met staff and visited Dawson’s coil warehouse at its Ayrton Railhead to watch steel being loaded for Nissan. He then headed to Dawson’s Tees Riverside Intermodal Park where he saw steel being loaded onto a truck heading for export to the US, and finally to the North Sea


Supply Base to visit the new £3.2m deepwater quay currently under construction on the River Tees. Mr Alexander said: “It reinforces


my conviction that we need to be doing everything we can to support manufacturing. There are so many brilliant businesses in the North East doing important things in renewable energy and AV Dawson is just one of them. It’s amazing to see how the business has grown over the last 75 years. I’ve been hugely impressed.” Managing director Gary


Dawson, said of the minister: “He seemed to fully understand the strategic importance of the infrastructure improvements that we’re undertaking and how they’re related to the emerging renewable energy industries, in particular the offshore wind, sub- sea energy and biofuels markets.” The new £2.5m Tees Riverside


Intermodal Park, which is part of Dawson’s £10m infrastructure plan, has a direct link to the


East Coast Mainline and was completed last year following a 250% increase in the firm’s container handling and filling business. The deepwater quay, which


is due to be completed later this year, will boast depths of up to 8.5m and will be 150m long, allowing larger vessels of up to 10,000 tonnes to take advantage of Dawson’s one-stop-shop services, which include in-house ships agency and vessel support company, Cockfield Knight. Earlier, sipping minister


Stephen Hammond was treated to a tour of North-East ports. He visited the Port of Tyne on 1 July to see first-hand the progress made and new developments taking shape. Cargo volumes have more than doubled since 2009 to 6.5m tonnes, the highest for 25 years. Chief executive officer, Andrew Moffat, Port of Tyne, updated the Minister on major development plans and outlined how the port


PD Ports’ David Robinson (right) told minister Hammond how Teesport is bringing new business to the region


Issue 6 2013


19 Dawson impresses on ministerial visit


was putting in place the funding to take advantage of significant growth opportunities. Then, on 3 July, it was the turn


of PD Ports-owned Teesport. As well as visiting the operations on the ground, Mr Hammond took a harbour launch trip to see the port from the River Tees. PD Ports has invested almost £17m in infrastructure


improvements at the port in the last 18 months, including a new terminal operating soſtware system and new rubber-tyred gantry cranes with GPS-assisted technology. PD Ports Group CEO David


Robinson explained how the port had played a key role in attracting new businesses to the area and had helped local and regional


economies grow. Mr Hammond said: “The ports


and the maritime sector are vital to the UK economy, and Teesport plays into this both nationally and regionally. On Monday I saw for myself the impact the port is making. This includes its distribution centres for two of our largest supermarkets and its container handling facilities.”


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