14 | Tees Business
An aerial view of Teesport, which acts as a
catalyst for a thriving, sustainable export
strategy for a wide range of businesses.
PORT
In 2016 the North-East voted
overwhelmingly to leave
the EU, running the risk
of severing ties with our
European trade partners.
Here, Jerry Hopkinson,
chief operating officer and
vice-chairman at PD Ports,
discusses how a more
global outlook and the
opportunity to form new
trade agreements post-Brexit
can boost Teesport’s already
thriving export industry.
How Teesport can play
crucial post-Brexit role
OF
CALL
T
eesport, one of the UK’s deepest water
ports and the beating heart of the Tees
Valley, acts as a gateway to global
markets and consumers for exporters with
the region and the wider North.
Owned and operated by PD Ports, one
of the UK’s major port groups, Teesport is a
catalyst for a thriving and sustainable export
strategy for a huge range of businesses.
The North East has a tremendous sense
of pride in its export activity, and rightly so.
The region is the only one of its kind in the
UK to consistently achieve a trade surplus,
exporting billions of pounds worth more of
goods each year than it receives in overseas
imports.
A staggering £1bn has been invested at
Teesport and on the River Tees in the last
decade, through PD Ports and third parties,
to ensure the region has the necessary
infrastructure and capacity to handle cargo
and meet growing customer demand,
keeping both Britain’s import and export
industries moving.
This ability to exchange trade both in
and out of Teesport places the region in a
strong position when UK domestic markets
experience turbulent times; export capacity
reduces the need to rely on domestic
demand, in turn building a more resilient
commercial environment.
More than half of North-East exports
currently go to Europe, meaning many
customers will be keeping a close eye on the
progress of the ongoing trade negotiations as
Britain exits the EU. Yet despite the potential
threat to European exports, the situation
could equally hold the opportunity to catapult
Teesport – and its customers – onto an even
broader global platform.
UK export performance as a whole has
actually been stronger outside the Single
Market than within the EU over the last
decade 1 and key emerging markets such as
Asia are likely to come into increasing focus
for exporters in the medium and long-term.