The Port of Tyne is pleased to announce that Unifeeder, one of Northern Europe's largest feeder networks, have established a new weekly service to the Tyne.
On the 18th of June the first Unifeeder vessel, Veersedijk, arrived at the Port of Tyne, establishing a direct import call from Felixstowe.
Unifeeder's new UK service operates three container ships on regular routes between the ports of Felixstowe, Grangemouth, Immingham, Teesport and South Shields and the continental hubs of Hamburg and Rotterdam.
The Port of Tyne service, with 700 TEU capacity (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units) will include 1 import vessel per week arriving every Thursday from Felixstowe, and 1 export vessel every Saturday sailing directing from the Tyne to Rotterdam.
From Unifeeder's head office in Denmark Jesper Kristensen Chief Executive said: "The expansion into the UK is a major and strategically important decision. The new service brings new opportunities to link the UK with major continental hubs as well as with the company's existing destinations in Scandinavia and around the Baltic Sea".
This represents a significant increase in containers handled by the Port of Tyne and already container volumes for the Port are up 44% against the comparable period in 2009.
Ian Gibson, Director of Logistics at the Port of Tyne adds: "Unifeeder's decision to have a direct weekly import call from Felixstowe into the Tyne is a major coup for the Port, and further enhances our reputation as leaders in Port Centric Logistics. The export call to Rotterdam and then Felixstowe, has also been very well received by our customers. We look forward to developing our relationship with Unifeeder and in particular the links on other trade lanes, including the shortsea European market".
Attracting Unifeeder is a result of significant long term investment in upgrading quayside facilities at the Port of Tyne, which is unique amongst all other UK Ports in that the entire supply chain is managed in house. Customers can stock containers at the Ports 20 acre customs approved container terminal, store goods in one of the Ports on site state of the art warehouses and Port of Tyne Distribution can guarantee next day delivery anywhere in the country.