Port of Tyne welcomes Lord Mandelson

Lord Mandelson, the former Labour Peer and European Commissioner, visited the Port of Tyne as part of an Institute for Public Policy Research Relations study into the impact of globalisation.

The visit to the North East follows trips to Brazil and China.  Lord Mandelson’s tour in the region also took in his former constituency of Hartlepool and Newcastle city centre.

The Port of Tyne handled cargoes with an estimated value of £10 billion last year, of which 60% was exported from the region.  This included 550,000 cars, including exports of Nissan, imports of VWs and transhipment of other makes of cars to all parts of the world, including Japan, Asia, Australia and Europe.

Recently it was ranked the number one port in the UK for car exports and 7th largest in Europe for all car handling – both export and import.  Other imports include coal, biomass fuel, and a growing business in containerised imports of retail goods and car parts.  Exports from the Port of Tyne include scrap metal, grain and recyclable waste paper in containers.

Chief Executive Andrew Moffat said:  “We have seen significant growth in the last ten years, and have invested over £100 million into the port infrastructure to support the new and growing demands of business and industry.  We have created facilities for new cargoes, deepened the river and strengthened berths to take the new larger ships these days and we’re creating more land to support the opportunities that might arise, such as in offshore wind turbine manufacturing.

“It’s always a pleasure to be able to showcase the port and we were pleased to welcome Lord Mandelson and the IPPR to see what we do and how we contribute to the wider regional economy.”

The Port contributed around £421m to the North East economy in 2010, supporting around 9,000 jobs in the region.

For further information, visit: www.portoftyne.co.uk

Published: 15/07/2011