With the closure of the Redcar steel plant, the seaport may close in Teesside

The crisis in Teesside in the northeast of Great Britain, which erupted after the closure of the country's largest metallurgical plant, Redcar, may take on new dimensions. Today it became known about the upcoming layoffs at the Teesport commercial seaport.

Port owner PD Ports announced that it would have to lay off 80 workers at the Teesside port due to a decrease in cargo turnover.

Port closure is not on the agenda yet, PD Ports CEO David Robinson said.

“This port has stood here for 160 years and has seen ups and downs, but so far no one has been able to close it. Teesport has a future and will be the engine of the region's economic recovery, ”said Robinson.

Located at the mouth of the Tiss River, the port, whose fate hangs in the balance, despite the gallant statements of the owner, before the closure of the Redkar metallurgical plant handled 40 million tons of cargo annually and served more than 5,000 ships.

Basically, the port handled steel slabs from Eastern Europe, intended for further rolling at the SSI plant.

Today, the port workers at Teesside intend to rebuild their facilities to handle other cargo, such as containers.

Recall that the Teesside metallurgical plant was closed and actually abandoned by the Thai owner, SSI, under pressure from creditors who demanded that the company stop subsidizing the UK energy sector and stop unprofitable steel production in this country.

As a result, over 2,000 people turned out to be outside the gates of the enterprise, and the plant itself is being prepared to be cut into scrap metal.