Newcastle unites with Multimodal as Port of Tyne confirm stand

No matter where a business is located, helping them manage their supply chain needs is at the forefront of the Port of Tyne’s successful logistics services division. If anyone doubts the virtues of using a well-equipped, well-connected, ideally located north-east port instead of battling through the congested south-east and adding thousands of unnecessary road miles to the mix, then surely they can be persuaded by the Port of Tyne’s way of looking at things.

Who wouldn’t want to save time, money and fuel, reduce emissions and find an answer to their logistics problems in one place and under one “roof”?

The Port of Tyne has been successfully promoting its “one-stop-shop” solutions for years, and clearly in these times of environmental awareness and tight margins, the arguments stack up even more convincingly.

One customer was regularly importing goods through the Port of Felixstowe and trucking them by road to Sheffield. From there, the goods were sent out to various distribution centres – many of these were in the south, so this “logistics” system actually involved the same goods going back the way they had come.

“We suggested to them to try it our way – ship into Felixstowe, then shortsea feeder vessel to the Port of Tyne, leaving us to unload, devan, repack, reconfigure, store and distribute,” says Port of Tyne CEO Andrew Moffat. “Not only did this particular customer save huge of amounts of money as a result, but their warehousing and distribution is all done under one roof.”

The success of the Port of Tyne, one of the UK’s largest trust ports, has certainly been recognised. This year the Institute of Transport Management named it European Port of the Year for the second year running – and the Tyne was also declared Port Operator of the Year at the Lloyd’s List London Awards 2008.

Back in the early 1990s, the story was very different. The port was facing up to the demise of its traditional coal export business and management realised that in order to push home the concept of using northern ports for northern cargoes, a drastic makeover was required.

Since then, the port has invested over £100 million in new quays, cranes, quayside equipment, on-dock warehousing, rail links, haulage, IT, services and training and continued to develop its capability to handle the whole of the logistics supply chain in-house, through Port of Tyne Logistics Services.

“We offer a uniquely integrated package of container handling, reconfiguration and reworking, storage and distribution with our own road haulage fleet,” says Andrew Moffat.

The Tyne operates as a feeder port for medium-sized containerships making regular calls from Felixstowe, Rotterdam, Immingham and Grangemouth, and occasional calls from Zeebrugge, with all services currently operated by Feederlink.

It has 50,000 sq m of high-security customs-approved warehousing, with 53,000 racked pallet spaces, and land available for further warehousing, distribution and other activities. Trucks are turned round in the terminal compound within 20 minutes – a performance that congested southern ports can only dream of.

John Tye, Commercial Director, Logistics, believes that the whole operation is unique in that the port’s own people control everything from the moment the ship comes in, through offloading the containers on to terminal tractors, delivering them into stacking area or direct to the warehouse, storing and eventually dispatching according to customer requirements – often direct to the supermarket or store.

Through warehousing and distribution functions, the port operates a state-of-the-art tracking and tracing system, ATMS, and this can be run in tandem with the customer’s own tracking system. The haulage fleet numbers more than 50 vehicles and 110 trailers.

Andrew Moffat says a key part of the strategy is to encourage potential customers to look at the cost of the total supply chain rather than parts of it. And retailers find the idea of shortening the supply chain increasingly attractive.

Studies have shown that the Tyne’s feeder approach has saved more than a million road miles since the launch of the “one-stop-shop” concept.

But as well as eliminating road miles and avoiding some of the south-east’s bottlenecks, the Port of Tyne uses rail as an important part of the mix. This summer the port’s rail terminals gained added momentum when high-cube containers (9 foot 6 inches high, rather than the standard 8 foot six inches) were officially cleared to move in and out of the port, following a major programme of work by Network Rail.

This is a major attraction for businesses, which are increasingly choosing to use high-cube boxes with their larger capacity. These containers now have W9 gauge connectivity from Tyne Dock branch to the East Coast Main Line at King Edward Bridge south junction.

At the same time, the port is Channel Tunnel approved, which means that anything loaded at the port has clearance straight through to Europe.

Container volumes through the Tyne increased by 40% last year to about 60,000 teu, and feeder vessel calls were up 30% to 270.

“We firmly believe that the message is getting through – why road haul goods all the way up through the country when you can choose a much more cost-effective, efficient and environmentally friendly package at the Port of Tyne,” says Mr Moffat.

The Port of Tyne also continues to thrive in its other key business areas. As well as the supply chain services, incorporating container handling, warehousing, distribution and rail services, it has four other business sectors – conventional cargoes, car terminals, passengers (cruise and ferries), and estates.

Last year turnover increased by £3 million and trade was up by 641,000 tonnes.

Coal is back in massive volumes – but now it is coming in, rather than going out. The port expects to handle around 3 million tonnes of power generating coal this year, all of this heading inland by rail. A major project to lengthen and deepen the Riverside Quay, and deepen the approach channel, has enabled the port to handle part-laden panamax vessels, bringing up to 65,000 tonnes of coal apiece. With new cranes, increased storage and handling capacity, the installation of a second outloading facility and a new conveyor to carry coal direct from quayside to stocking ground, the port is on course to handle as much as 4 million tonnes of coal imports a year.

The port has also developed into one of the UK’s most important trade car hubs, handling 592,884 vehicles – mainly for Nissan and VW – in 2007.

Diversity is another virtue, of course – and in this case it includes forest products, grain, scrap, steel and a host of other cargoes.

Matthew Hunt, commercial manager at the Port of Tyne, says: “Listening to customers and providing what they need is key to the port’s success and to maintaining a competitive edge. Our unprecedented level of growth is testimony to the success of partnership working, involving all stakeholders in the supply chain.”