CUSTOMERS have praised staff at a North-East port for battling against bad weather to unload goods.

The Port of Sunderland's cargo handling team unloaded a total of 7,100 tonnes of steel products, including coil, plates and bars in less than 15 hours last weekend.

The cargo was unloaded from three ships berthed at Corporation Quay, Sunderland, during shifts on Friday and Saturday.

The mv Smaragd, from Dunkerque, Union Sun, from Ghent, and regular caller the Captain L'Alexandre, from Duisberg, were all turned around in record time.

Frank Major, general manager of the port, said: "Our staff did exceptionally well, finishing the vessels before the onset of the weekend storms, which could have severely disrupted our operations and created delays in our supply chain to important industrial customers.

"All our customers were delighted with the performance, which meant that local manufacturers could get immediate access to urgent consignments of steel.

"But more significantly, we freed expensive ship capacity and cargo holds for work elsewhere."

Products will be delivered by the port's contractors to the region's automotive and white goods manufacturers during the coming weeks.