The owner of an historic shipyard on the Tees has stressed that site is not lost to the river, following the announcement that its current tenant is set to leave.
PD Ports says it is working with interested parties to find a new occupier for the former Smith Dock yard which sits on the Teesport Commerce Park site. It follows confirmation that shipping repair and conversion specialist A&P Group is pulling out of the space and focusing work at its Tyneside base.
Workers at the £100m turnover business have been issued with HR1 advanced notice of potential redundancy forms and offered jobs at the firm's Hebburn site, on the south bank of the Tyne. PD Ports said A&P did not want to renew its lease for the Tees site, which it has occupied for more than 20 years.
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Shipbuilding has taken place at the South Bank docks since the early 1900s. Between its opening and closure in 1987 the yards turned out hundreds of vessels including warships, bulk carriers and trawlers. A&P acquired the lease in the wake of the collapse of Cammell Laird in the early 2000s.
The five acre site features two dry docks and 240m of jetty frontage, along with workshop space, cranes up to 40 tonnes and secure tank washing facilities. A&P positioned the yard as a specialist location for offshore vessels, dredgers and tankers and used it to convert a replica of Captain Cook's HM Bark Endeavour ship into a visitor attraction.
A&P said it had notified customers of its decision to pull out of the yard. Most recent accounts filed for the group, to the end of March 2023, give some indication as to the reasons behind the move. The firm saw a drop off in occupancy at the Tees site in 2022, with levels remaining steady into 2023.
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A review attached to the latest accounts talks about a focus on its Tyneside and Falmouth sites. The firm said it was determined to take advantage of the North East and South West locations and hoped to make them key parts of the supply chain for the Government's renewed National Shipbuilding Strategy.
Frans Calje, chief executive officer at PD Ports, said: “A&P Tees has confirmed to us that they do not wish to renew their lease at the dry dock facilities at Teesport Commerce Park when it comes to an end in May. We are working with a number of interested parties to establish the future of this important marine facility and hope to see it operational under a new tenant as soon as possible.”