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PD Ports starts Felixstowe-Teesport feeder service
2009/2/26
PD Ports has launched Logical Link, a coastal feeder container shipping service offering a next day connection between Felixstowe and Teesport.
This new service operates two sailings per week, (Mondays and Wednesdays) loading in Felixstowe on day one and unloading in Teesport the following morning.
The Logical Link service will reduce operational costs for customers and minimise the adverse impact that road transport has on the environment.
Further benefits of the Logical Link include Teesport''s portcentric logistics offering, which enables cargo to be stored closer to its final destination, complemented by Teesport''s access to vital Northern road and rail links.
Logical Link also allows PD Ports, through its subsidiary PD Logistics, based in Felixstowe, to offer a fully comprehensive port-to-door service, including warehousing if required.
"With growing pressure for businesses to seek further efficiency gains and be greener in their approach to business, many companies are seeking alternative ways of shipping goods to their customers," said Graham Wall, commercial director for PD Ports.
"There is without doubt, a vital need to reduce the amount of freight transported from southern UK ports by road, which is destined for the north of the UK.
"The launch of this service will offer relief to our over-burdened UK road network and by using this new feeder service, importers will be able to act in a more socially responsible manner by lessening their environmental impact on the ever-increasing congested UK road network."
The Road Transport Association reported that congestion on the roads currently costs British business US$24 billion a year.
PD Ports is seeking to further develop the shortsea-coastal traffic through Teesport but it has also been given Government approval to proceed with a new $430 million deep sea container terminal, known as the Northern Gateway Container Terminal (NGCT), scheduled to open in 2012.
Two major retailers have already recognised the benefit of the portcentric concept and are building import centres within the port area.
ASDA, part of the world''s largest retailer Wal-mart, calculates that its 2005 decision to develop a 360,000 sq ft import centre at Teesport has already reduced its road travel by over two million miles per annum.
The use of the Logical Link service will help it further reduce that road travel. Tesco is currently building a 1.2 million sq ft import centre at Teesport, with operations due to commence this summer.
The service currently runs northwards only but there will be a longer term opportunity to export containerised goods from the North of the UK through Teesport to Felixstowe and onward to global destinations on a return southward journey of the coastal feeder ships.
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2009/2/27