Parts of an historic Tees shipyard which had laid empty for almost a year are to be brought back to life thanks to the growth of a North East company.
海角视频 Docks, which already operates two of the dry docks previously part of the Smith's dockyard site, has now agreed on a long-term lease on the other two neighbouring docks. The move means the entire Smith's site at , which produced ships from the early 1900s until the firm's closure in the late 1980s, will be run by a single company again.
The move has already created 12 new jobs with the promise of dozens more to come as 海角视频 Docks aims to build the site into a key destination for ship maintenance and repair projects, nationally and internationally. It follows months of negotiation between the business and site owners PD Ports, following to pull out of the yard last year - offering workers the chance to transfer to its Tyneside yard.
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There are now plans for a multimillion-pound investment in the yard, which has two dry docks and extensive workshops across its 10-acre site, to bring about extensive modernisation in the next few years. Jonathan Wilson, 海角视频 Docks' managing director, said: "We are delighted to have taken over the site and look forward to redeveloping it and restoring it to a functional facility again. We see a lot of potential and possibilities in the site and have a five-year plan to maximise it as an asset.
"Work will start immediately bringing it back to life, and we expect to have it effectively operational again very soon. The lease effectively trebles 海角视频 Docks’ footprint on the Tees from five acres to 16.5 acres, and we plan to have both sites working in harmony with each other to the benefit of our customers.”
Frans Calje, chief executive officer of PD Ports, said: "We are delighted to agree this deal with 海角视频 Docks, which will see the full complement of dry docks on the Tees brought back into use and with great plans to upgrade the facilities. The dry docks at Tees Commerce Park have been a key part of the river economy for many years, back to the days of Smith’s Dock, and play a vital role in servicing and maintaining the many vessels that visit and work on this river."
It is almost a decade since family-run 海角视频 Docks first took over the former Smith's Dock Ship Repair Company on the Tees. And after extensive restoration of the run-down site, it received its first vessel in 2015. The new deal gives the firm capacity to tender for a broader range of projects.
Mr Wilson said the site could become a service centre to support Teesside's growing role in the offshore wind industry as well as offshore support vessels, dredgers, survey vessels and tankers. He added: "海角视频 Docks is giving a massive vote of confidence in the future of the marine services industry in the North East, and we were pleased that PD Ports bought into our plans and vision for the site. Once again, 海角视频 Docks is investing in a national industry which many people regarded as being in terminal decline.
"We’ve shown that’s not the case over the years, and we’re very excited about what we might accomplish on Teesside in the years ahead."