North East England will be represented by the Port of Tyne at the biggest transport conference and exhibition in the UK.
Multimodal 2011 is the event where the world's shippers "go shopping" - and is crucial to build business for the Port and the region.
Held in Birmingham this year, the event is attended by 4,000 shippers, manufacturers, retailers, wholesalers, distributors, importers and exporters from all over the world.
"They are the people we hope to talk to about where they place their shipping and logistics business," said John Tye, Commercial Director Logistics at Port of Tyne. "Whenever something needs moving - from containers and cars to coal or grain, we want people to think Port of Tyne first. By setting out our stall at Multimodal we will be raising our profile with the people who make the decisions in our business and we will also be cementing relationships with our existing customers.
"The Port has a massive impact on the North East Region, supporting business, trade and industry and this event is one of the ways we market our services to ensure we remain a vibrant and sustainable port."
Port of Tyne is one of the UK's major deep sea ports, with a range of services for worldwide business, trade and industry. The Port's businesses include conventional and bulk cargoes, car terminals, cruise and ferries, logistics, including container shipping, a distribution fleet and state of the art warehousing. Over £100m of investment in recent year's means the Port has the infrastructure and capacity to handle the majority of the world's largest ships and handle and store the cargoes for today's business needs. Recently the Port commissioned £20m storage and handling facilities for biomass wood pellets for use in power generation, built a third car terminal for shipping cars and is gearing up to meet the needs of the new offshore wind turbine manufacturing industry.
Port of Tyne is supported at Multimodal by some of its customers - Tetley Tea, which imports all its tea for the UK through Port of Tyne, is providing a cuppa for everyone who goes along to the Port stand, and JML internet retailers are providing gifts and giveaways.