Teesport

title: "Teesport" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["ports-and-harbours-of-yorkshire", "river-tees", "places-in-the-tees-valley", "buildings-and-structures-in-redcar-and-cleveland", "transport-in-redcar-and-cleveland", "teesside"] topic_path: "sports" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teesport" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::data[format=table title="Infobox port"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Teesport |
| image | Container Terminal, Teesport - geograph.org.uk - 1453170.jpg |
| image_size | 300px |
| image_caption | Container terminal TCT1, August 2009 |
| country | United Kingdom |
| location | River Tees, Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire |
| coordinates | |
| owner | PD Ports |
| sizeland | 200 ha |
| arrivals | 6,000 |
| cargotonnage | 56 million tonnes |
| containervolume | 500,000 TEU |
| website | Teesport @ PDPorts |
| :: |
| name = Teesport | image = Container Terminal, Teesport - geograph.org.uk - 1453170.jpg | image_size = 300px | image_caption = Container terminal TCT1, August 2009 | country = United Kingdom | location = River Tees, Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire | coordinates = | opened = | operated = | owner = PD Ports | type = | sizewater = | sizeland = 200 ha | size = | berths = | wharfs = | piers = | employees = | leadershiptitle = | leader = | blankdetailstitle1 = | blankdetails1 = | blankdetailstitle2 = | blankdetails2 = | blankdetailstitle3 = | blankdetails3 = | arrivals = 6,000 | cargotonnage = 56 million tonnes | containervolume = 500,000 TEU | cargovalue = | passengertraffic = | revenue = | profit = | blankstatstitle1 = | blankstats1 = | blankstatstitle2 = | blankstats2 = | blankstatstitle3 = | blankstats3 = | website = Teesport @ PDPorts
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Pilot's_Pontoon,Teesport-geograph.org.uk-_1450319.jpg" caption="Pilot's pontoon with view upstream, August 2009"] ::
Teesport is a large sea port located in the unitary authority of Redcar and Cleveland, in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, Northern England.
Owned by PD Ports, it is located approximately 1 mi inland from the North Sea and 4 mi east of Middlesbrough on the River Tees. Teesport is currently the third largest port in the United Kingdom, and amongst the ten biggest in Western Europe, handling over 56 million tonnes of domestic and international cargo per year.
Description
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Ro-Ro_Terminal,Tees_Dock-geograph.org.uk-_1449895.jpg" caption="A tug passes [[P&O Ferries]] M/V ''Norqueen'' which operates the RORO route to [[Rotterdam"] ::
The port covers an area of 200 ha of land alongside the southern bank of the River Tees. Presently handling over 6,000 ships and 56 million tonnes of cargo per annum, Teesport is mostly associated with the handling of steel, petrochemical, manufacturing, engineering and retail. Teesport is the logistical hub for the commodity chemical and steel companies that are members of the Northeast of England Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC).
Facilities
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/Potash_Terminal,Teesport-geograph.org.uk-_1451214.jpg" caption="[[Potash]] terminal, August 2009"] ::
Teesport's facilities include:
- Tees Dock Terminal: handling bulk cargo, which accounts for 73% of the port's volume.
- Cleveland Potash bulk terminal: handles more than a million tons of potash and salt exports, mainly from Boulby Mine
- Steel Export Terminal: equipped with eight gantry cranes, it handles over a million tons of steel slab export a year. Can also handle wood imports, including tropical hardwood, fiberboard, plus softwood and pulp from Scandinavia
- Teesport Container Terminals: two computerised Container quays, capable of handling 500,000 TEU per annum
- TCT1 at 294 m, which can hold 1,872 TEU at quayside
- TCT2 at 360 m, specifically developed deep-sea cargo quay which presently handles customers including CMA CGM. TCT2 has its own specifically built railhead, which was developed in partnership with DB Cargo UK
- Roll-on/roll-off: P&O Ferries operates eight sailings to Rotterdam and six to Zeebrugge per week. An extension of 23 ha allows the import of 100,000 cars by Renault, while General Motors sub-leases 5 ha
- Dawson's Wharf: handles dry cargo from a 500 m river-facing quay, handling 400 thousand tonnes of bulk minerals and non-hazardous chemicals
- Cochrane's Wharf: a 5 ha site operated by Tarmac Aggregates for the import of dredged marine materials
Landside
Landside clients include Hanson plc who operate a cement plant that also utilises Ground granulated blast-furnace slag, and a landfill site which uses non-hazardous waste to backfill the site of the former Tees Dock facility. Tesco operate a 1200000 ft high-bay non-food storage and distribution facility at Teesport. The currently under-construction Teesport Renewable Energy Plant is scheduled to come into operation in 2020.{{cite web |url = https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-tees-37057092 |title = Teesport green power plant construction to begin |work = BBC News |date = 12 August 2016 |access-date = 21 January 2020
Northern Gateway Terminal
In February 2008, PD Ports were given planning permission to redevelop the former Shell Oil refinery in a £350 million scheme that would create a new container facility, entitled the Northern Gateway Terminal, which would raise TEU capacity of the entire port to 1.5 million TEU. However, due to the 2008 economic downturn, PD Ports put back the start of development until 2010 at the earliest, with the programme now scheduled to complete in 2020.
Transport connections
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Dockside_Railway,Teesport-geograph.org.uk-_1451212.jpg" caption="A former-[[British Rail Class 08]] shunting locomotive on hire from [[RMS Locotec]] propels steel stock past [[P&O Ferries]] M/V ''Norsky'' RORO ship, August 2009"] ::
PD Ports leases a number of former-British Rail Class 08 shunting locomotives from RMS Locotec to move rail traffic around the port, and to/from the two main associated marshalling yards. The port is directly rail connected to the East Coast Main Line and the Durham Coast Line, and close to the A66 trans-pennine route, and other major trunk roads.
History
The first developed facility on the current Teesport location was a Royal Navy depot during the First World War. This allowed the allocated six British E-class submarines to operate further into the North Sea during their defence, attack and mine laying operations against the Imperial German Navy. At this time, commercial port facilities were still handled at Middlesbrough Docks, located further upstream.
In the 1920s, Eston Urban District Council decided to turn the 13 former dormitories of the former Royal Navy facility into 38 small houses, within a community called Teesport. By the start of World War II, of the original 130 residents that came when the community was developed, only 3 remained. This was because in 1934, the joint owners of the land on which the community was built – riverside and shoreline Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson; landside Dorman Long – had written to the council to seek assurances that they would not let any more houses within the community, so allowing the land owners to take back possession and be allowed to develop their businesses on the land. After the war, due to over-crowding around the original Port Darlington and Middlesbrough Docks facility, both companies developed industrial facilities on the land, and sub-leased some land to other commercial operations.
Between 1965 and 1968, three oil refineries were developed close to Teesport, thanks to the Phillips Petroleum's development of the Ekofisk oil field in the North Sea. This facility was served by what became known as Tees Dock, with the whole docks facility designed around Panamax scale ships. as a result of the pipeline petrochemicals traffic still today represents about 50% of the cargo through Teesport, around 26 million tonnes a year.
In 1992 the Port Authority of Tees and Hartlepool was privatised, with the original three buyers subsequently reduced to a single owner, Powell Duffryn Plc, in 1995. With traffic out-scaling the port's handling and ship-scale facilities, PD Ports then developed TCT2 in 2002 specifically as a deep-sea cargo quay on top of the site that used to be the original Tees Dock.
In March 2021, Teesport became the UK's largest Freeport.
References
References
- (22 March 2019). "PD Ports: Teesport". PD Ports Website.
- "PD Ports plc".
- "Port of Teesport". World Port Source.
- "Teesport". Autostore.
- (28 February 2017). "Construction upturn allows Hanson to re-open Teesside slag recycling plant". www.environmenttimes.co.uk.
- "Teesport". Impetus Waste Management.
- (Autumn 2009). "PD Ports and Tesco announce major Teesport development". Ridgebrook Ventures.
- (1 December 2009). "The Northern Gateway Container Terminal". BBC News.
- "Teesport". Abandoned Communities.
- (10 August 2000). "20th Century Industrial Archaeology". Taylor & Francis.
- "Good times for public storage". Fuel Oil News.
- (11 March 2021). "Teesport Granted Freeport Status".
- (17 April 2021). "'Blue wall' mayor bids to create a super-port". The Telegraph.
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