THE Northern Way last night pledged its support for Teesport's plans for expansion as it revealed figures which showed northern ports were becoming increasingly important to the UK economy.

A study by consultants MDS Transmodal was last night published by the Northern Way - a Government-backed initiative to bridge the £30bn economic gap between the North and South - which revealed the North's ports had been growing steadily over the past ten years.

Ports such as Teesport, Liverpool and Hull have increased their market share from 29 per cent of UK traffic in 1994 to almost 34 per cent last year.

Yesterday, John Jarvis, the Northern Way's transport director, said: "Teesport is actively pursuing new markets and we are very supportive of that.

"We are supportive of the growth of northern ports, and a new deep-sea facility at Teesport."

Teesport owner PD Ports has submitted plans for approval for a deep-sea container terminal which would cater for ships bringing goods direct from the Far East, rather than the ships having to dock in the South and be transported to the region by lorry.

Not only would it ease congestion in the South, but it would also drive economic growth in the North, bringing 5,500 jobs to the region.

Mr Jarvis, who was speaking at a consultation event on its national ports policy by the Department of Transport yesterday, said Teesport's plans were a perfect fit with the Northern Way's ambitions of improving economic growth in northern regions.

He said: "We are looking for the Government to recognise the benefits of the market-led growth of the North's ports for the country as a whole, and for it to work with us and the ports on road and rail access improvements."

Martyn Pellew, group development director at PD Ports, said the meeting had been useful and would help PD shape its response to the Government's ports policy.

* The Northern Echo has been backing Teesport's plans through its Support Our Port campaign.