During his recent visit to the north east, Nick Brown MP for Newcastle East and Wallsend and Minister for the North East of England met with the Port of Tyne's new CEO, Andrew Moffat, to learn more about the port's development and future business plans.
Mr Moffat says "It always gives us enormous pleasure to showcase our port and it was especially good to welcome Nick Brown as it is nearly 30 years since he last visited us."
As part of his discussions with Andrew Moffat and other senior board members, Nick Brown was given a tour of the award-winning port to see at first hand just how far the port has progressed during the intervening years since his last visit.
"As a service provider in a fast moving global market, we recognised some time ago that if we were to increase our market share and portfolio of services we needed to develop our facilities" says Mr Moffat.
"Our position to take advantage of new opportunities and keep pace with the changes in world shipping and supply chain management is now much stronger. Business has grown but this level of growth brings with it its own pressure to meet the increasingly sophisticated demands of our customers, especially in today's economic climate."
The port, through Port of Tyne Logistics, offers a unique in-house supply chain service providing customers with hassle-free, seamless and, importantly, cost efficient management of their supply chain from container handling and warehousing through to the delivery of the end product.
"We have found that occasionally there is a misconception that we provide this service only to companies importing and exporting through the port" explains Mr Moffat
"In fact, customers can take advantage of the full chain or any part of the chain to fulfil their logistics requirements. "
Mr Brown also visited the port's coal and intermodal rail terminals, where last November a record number of 67 trains were loaded with coal, destined for the power generators, during one week in November. The total tonnage of coal handled by the port during the past two years has increased from 1.6 million tonnes up to 3 million.
The Port of Tyne is a major contributor to the region's economy and employs 450 people throughout the Group.
Mr Moffat says "This visit gave us an excellent opportunity to discuss developments at the Port of Tyne with the Minister for the North East and to show him the enormous changes that have already taken place and the continuing investment which will ensure the Port of Tyne remains competitive.
"These are exciting if challenging times for the port and I look forward to keeping Mr Brown updated with continued progress".