PD Ports, operator of Teesport in Northeast England, has been raising its profile in the Far East as part of a campaign to attract overseas callers. This follows the recent UK Government approval of its £300m plan to build a deepsea container terminal known as the Northern Gateway Container Terminal (NGCT) at Teesport, which will have a capacity of 1.5m teu when fully built. In June PD Ports hosted a launch party at the British Embassy in Bangkok, organised by PD Ports’ Far East representatives, Infinity Logistics. The ceremony, which consisted of over 200 major players from Asian shipping lines, shippers and freight forwarders was opened by the British Ambassador, Quinton Quayle and Minister of Commerce for Thailand, Viroon Tejapaibul.
The roadshow continued on to Vietnam where PD Ports representatives exhibited at the 6th Asean Ports & Shipping conference before returning to the UK. PD Ports’ profile raising campaign in Asia had begun in late December when PD Ports’ senior managers visited Singapore and Malaysia in order to complete the signing of Infinity as the ports' representative in the South East Asia market.
Martyn Pellew, group development director of PD Ports, said: “There's no point in us building a £300million container port on Teesside to be known as the Northern Gateway Container Terminal (NGCT) if no one knows about it. Today, overseas based manufacturers such as those in Thailand can only use Teesport for container freight traffic coming into Britain on smaller feeder ships through continental ports such as Rotterdam or Zebrugge but in three years' time after our build programme, they can come direct.”
PD Ports will continue its overseas marketing visits to promote Teesport in Asia towards the end of 2008, with trips planned to Mumbai and Dubai.
The roadshow continued on to Vietnam where PD Ports representatives exhibited at the 6th Asean Ports & Shipping conference before returning to the UK. PD Ports’ profile raising campaign in Asia had begun in late December when PD Ports’ senior managers visited Singapore and Malaysia in order to complete the signing of Infinity as the ports' representative in the South East Asia market.
Martyn Pellew, group development director of PD Ports, said: “There's no point in us building a £300million container port on Teesside to be known as the Northern Gateway Container Terminal (NGCT) if no one knows about it. Today, overseas based manufacturers such as those in Thailand can only use Teesport for container freight traffic coming into Britain on smaller feeder ships through continental ports such as Rotterdam or Zebrugge but in three years' time after our build programme, they can come direct.”
PD Ports will continue its overseas marketing visits to promote Teesport in Asia towards the end of 2008, with trips planned to Mumbai and Dubai.