PD Ports is formally declaring its 550m deep water quay at Teesport open for business following a £35 million redevelopment.
A topping off ceremony was conducted by Lord Heseltine earlier this year but Number One Quay is being officially unveiled at Breakbulk Europe this week.
The investment has created the capability to accommodate two fully laden 235m long panamax vessels simultaneously in water 14.5m deep.
The quay design also has the capacity to further deepen the berth pockets in the future as customer requirements dictate and crucially, rail links to the quay edge and substantial warehousing on site have been maintained.
Roy Merryweather, PD Ports’ General Manager Business Development , said: “The new quay is vital to attracting new business to the port and North-East region, providing a platform to enable Teesport to compete on a national level.”
The 18-month project involved the demolition of some 24,000 tonnes of the existing concrete quay deck with a similar amount of new concrete used in the reconstruction. Where possible the original concrete was crushed and re-used in the new structure. In addition around 10,000m of 1.3m diameter heavy duty steel tubes were used for the supporting piles.
“ The reconstruction of Number One Quay gives us a tremendous platform to grow our business while increasing its lifespan for another 70 to 80 years ,” said Mark Pearson, PD Ports’ Project Director.
Dredging of the berth pockets was carried out by one of the largest backhoe dredgers in the world, the Manu Pekka, operated by Boskalis Westminster with up to 260,000m³ of material being removed for disposal at sea.
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