PD Ports gains HRO approval for deep sea container terminal
PD Ports has received formal planning approval for its Northern Gateway Container Terminal (NGCT) at Teesport in Northeast England. Secretary of State for Transport Ruth Kelly has announced her approval for the Harbour Revision Order (HRO) plans submitted by PD Ports in April 2006. This is the last and most important external approval required to finalise the NGCT business case and create a £300m investment in the deep sea container terminal on the South bank of the river Tees.
 Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council's local planning committee previously gave its unanimous approval for the scheme's land-based elements in April 2007. The HRO and accompanying Transport & Works Act Order (TWAO) have now been approved. This means the project has gained all the necessary statutory consents to start the development phase.
"This is very significant news for the North of England and for the supply chains of many UK companies," commented PD Ports' Group Chief Executive Officer, David Robinson. "The HRO approval is a major forward step to the financial viability of the project and, subject to the commercial hurdles, will allow the PD Ports team to focus on its delivery. This decision will ultimately give shippers and shipping lines serving the North of England and Scotland a valuable alternative to their traditional use of the Southern UK ports when trading with, particularly, the Far East and other major global markets.
"We have achieved successful planning approval for this large scale port infrastructure project in record time. It is less than 22 months since we submitted our plans. This further demonstrates the excellent support we have been given from all the stakeholders in this project, and underlines the need for this type of development to support the regional economy. I would like to put on record our thanks to all those parties, both locally and regionally, who have worked so tirelessly to help us achieve the Northern Gateway's successful planning approval. We still have much to do to make the plan a reality, but will be working hard to commence detailed engineering design and implementation, and see construction begin on site as soon as possible.
"Today is a significant step for Teesport and the maritime industry as a whole. A deep-sea container terminal on the Tees will attract container ships direct to Teesport from around the globe. All those imported goods needed for Northern consumers and retailers in the likes of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle can now travel the short distance from port to consumer via retailers' shelves.
"This will also save tens of millions of lorry miles, by stopping the wastefulness of all those containers being landed at Southern UK ports but destined by road or rail for the North. The new terminal will bring hundreds of new jobs to the Tees Valley and in addition, when NGCT is completed, PDP expects to attract more retail distribution centre activity to PDP's vacant strategic port land."
|
|
|
|
