Support Our Port
Report cites 'support for Teesport terminal'
A GOVERNMENT report yesterday appeared to lend support to plans to create a £300m container terminal at Teesport.
The interim report into the Ports Policy Review from the Department for Transport (DfT) was welcomed by Teesport owners PD Ports yesterday, which said it was an "important reflection" on the need for port expansion.
PD plans to build a deep-sea container terminal at the Middlesbrough port, which would allow direct imports from the Far East and is estimated to save up to 70 million road miles a year. It would also see the creation of up 5,500 jobs in the region.
The project - which is supported by The Northern Echo through its Support Our Port campaign - has already passed through the local planning committee and is now being considered by the DfT.
Yesterday's Ports Policy Review, from Jim Fitzpatrick, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the DfT, identified the congestion in ports in the South-East, which handle up to 90 per cent of tonnage - and recommended that the planning process should be speeded up.
And it also said it would take the findings of Sir Rod Eddington's report on transport into consideration in the final Ports Policy.
The Eddington report, published last year, said that better means of transporting goods within the UK were needed to cut queuing traffic on the roads and carbon dioxide emissions. It also recommended the need to improve access to ports.
Martyn Pellew, PD Ports group development director, said: "The report specifically identifies congestion on port access routes in the South-East of England as a problem, reinforcing the strategic importance of our plans for expansion at Teesport to serve the needs of the North of England."
Mr Pellew added that while the recommendation for a quickened planning process may come too late for Teesport's application, he hoped the Government would consider PD's plans as soon as possible.
8:26am Friday 20th July 2007
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