Logistics and Infrastructure

Deep Water Ports

What sets us apart from other locations are our excellent port facilities. Tees Valley has ten miles of operational river along the Tees, the deepest berths on the east coast of England, 5.4km of quayside, five roro berths and more than 1,400,000sq ft of warehousing space. Teesport is the UK’s northern gateway for global shippers and, with lock-free access to the North Sea, Tees Valley is ideal for companies who need access to international markets. The port facilities are well-connected via road and rail, providing easy access to the rest of the UK.

Rail-Linked Sites

Tees Valley is a major hub for the movement of rail freight, with more rail-linked sites than any other comparable area in the north of England. The Tees is the only port in the north of England with existing intermodal rail services operating directly from quayside facilities. And, with a mainline train station at Darlington, it is easy to move goods around in Tees Valley.

Fast-Moving Roads

Tees Valley’s roads are uncongested compared to the rest of the UK. Our urban centres are connected by a dual carriageway and the A1(M), A19 and A66 provide strategic access to the north, south, east and west and our central location means it’s easy to reach the whole of the UK.

An International Airport

Recently brought back into public ownership, Teesside International Airport connects Tees Valley to more than 300 global destinations with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.

There are three daily connections to the world-renowned, award-winning Schiphol hub as well as multiple daily flights to Aberdeen with connectivity to the Highlands & Islands and Scandinavia with Eastern Airways.

A ten-year plan for the airport will see ten new routes for leisure and business passengers by 2022.

Teesside University

A crucial part of Tees Valley’s infrastructure, Teesside University is one of the UK’s fastest growing universities and it provides local businesses with the skills they need. The university sees around 19,000 students pass through each year and it has an excellent record of employer engagement, recently gaining national recognition at the 2018 Enterprising Britain Awards for Improving the Business Environment.

A crucial part of Tees Valley’s infrastructure, more than £270million has been invested in the university, with a further £300million planned over the next ten years.

Digital Connectivity

Digital connectivity is vital to businesses and, due to large-scale investment in the area, nearly 99% of Tees Valley is covered by superfast broadband. We are also committed to bringing Gigabit and 5G coverage to all town centres across the region by 2021.

Utilities

Tees Valley is home to UK’s largest private wire electricity distribution network in the UK and as such, competitively priced, low-carbon power can be provided, enabling manufacturers to realise significant savings on both capex and opex compared to other UK locations.

Tees Valley’s effluent water treatment plant at Bran Sands is the largest combined industrial and municipal effluent plant in the UK. Strategically located in industrial heartland of Tees Valley, the facility allows businesses to treat industrial effluents in a dedicated network of pipelines.

The region is also home to the UK’s largest artificial reservoir, Kielder Water. It contains 200billion litres of water and allows local businesses that operate in heavy industrial sectors uninterrupted access to water supply. Water is available in either demin, portable or raw forms.

Gas and Steam

Natural gas is available to businesses in Tees Valley through our gas distribution network. It is competitively priced compared to the rest of the UK due to access to short haul gas via the North Sea and the utilisation of the region’s excellent infrastructure. CATS currently transports gas from over 30 producing fields in the Central North Sea and in 2017 delivered over 5 billion cubic metres of gas (approximately 14% of UK gas production and 7% of demand).

Industrial gas is supplied by BOC to customers at Wilton and those operating in the wider Tees Valley chemical cluster. Tees Valley is home to the UK’s largest Hydrogen plant.  The area is also home to significant underground cavities for industrial gas and product storage.

With over 550tph generated by Sembcorp at Wilton International alone, steam is also readily available and can be distributed at high, intermediate and low pressures through a comprehensive network of pipelines.

Bulk Storage

The bulk facilities in Tees Valley are world-class. Major operators Inter Terminals and Navigator Terminals offer clients extensive storage and handling solutions in Tees Valley. Both companies operate considerable tank storage facilities which are fully integrated with the adjacent petrochemical complexes at Billingham and Wilton. Customers are connected by a series of pipelines which transfer cargo from quayside storage to customers located on both sides of the river.