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Directors at a North East port have revealed how the business stepped up its growth strategy during one of the most challenging periods in its recent history.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was cause for concern for bosses at Port of Sunderland, as direct imports from the country – which accounted for a large chunk of all cargo handled – ground to a sudden halt.
Over the last 10 years the port has sought to diversify into key markets, including multimodal, development and offshore energy, with a particular focus on the circular economy and commodity sectors. It was already becoming an investor’s location of choice for materials-handling and processing operations, but many of those investments are long-term and, at the time, the port was having to act fast.
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Initial steps saw it help commercial partners affected by the supply chain interruption, to overcome the immediate challenge that would fundamentally affect their operations.
The port’s multimodal ambitions came to fruition thanks to recent investment in improving infrastructure for rail freight materials handling on the port estate – funded as part of its recent Enterprise Zone enabling works – which allowed the supply chain for client feedstock material to be moved from sea to rail.
Port director Matthew Hunt said the immediacy of the situation demonstrated the port’s operational resilience.
Mr Hunt said: “Almost overnight, we had to figure out a way to make up for the loss of a significant volume of our cargo throughput and a similar revenue shortfall and present our contingency plan to our owner, Sunderland City Council. I hadn’t experienced anything like it in my 13 years here. It was surreal.
“We have been fortunate to secure Enterprise Zone Status here at the port for two sites, the second of which – Trinity – Rail, Road & Sea – has only come to fruition over recent months, however we always knew the benefits they would yield would be long-term.”
The impact on commodity supply chains after hostilities broke out in Ukraine was keenly felt in the global economy, but Port of Sunderland had recently been chosen by fertiliser producer Brineflow to house one of Europe’s largest deep-water liquid fertiliser terminals. The UK needed to find new ways to source fertilisers following the stem of flow from Ukraine, and Brineflow managed to source alternative supplies from the US.
That meant the need to boost its capacity to store and distribute its products, leading it to accelerate its future development plans and invest a further £5m into the port, significantly increasing its handling capabilities. In February, Mr Hunt and John Fuller, chairman of Brineflow, welcomed the Torm Australia to the port, one of the UK’s largest ever fertiliser imports, which brought relief to farmers up and down the UK.
Mr Hunt said: “The opening of Brineflow’s deep-water terminal at the port couldn’t have come at a better time. It saw us develop new a new revenue stream and positioned us as a pivotal piece of UK supply chain infrastructure by safeguarding the supply of fertilisers, which are the lifeblood of our entire indigenous food chain.
“Our ability to identify and secure new revenue streams amid a period of huge economic uncertainty and trade embargoes, is testament to the fantastic work put in by the team throughout the course of the year to help steer us through this incredibly testing period. To see a significant element of our port business disappear almost overnight and to be sitting here 12 months later in a position where we were able to generate substantive growth is a feat we can all be incredibly proud of. It topped off an incredible year and we are looking forward to our valued development partners completing their investment plans to deliver further long-term market led investment on our port site.
“There’s no hiding from the fact that the last few years have been challenging however we really seem to have turned a corner. Completing work on the Trinity – Rail, Road & Sea – Enterprise Zone backed by £8.2m from the North East LEP – will make a further 20 acres of port land ripe for development and will ensure that, whatever the future has in store, we can be confident that the port will continue to play a key role in the emerging city, regional and national economy.”
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