The government is to invest £1.2 million in a multi-modal terminal on the banks of the River Tees devoted to “bio-freight”.
The facility is being developed by logistics specialist AV Dawson which already stores and delivers grain to the Ensus bio-ethanol plant at Wilton near Redcar, and will soon play a role in moving 1,500-tonne trains of grain per week from Cambridge to Teesside to feed the plant.
A new rail freight terminal will be built along with a quayside extension at the site on Riverside Park, Middlesbrough.
The funding, made under the Regional Growth Fund, will take the total investment in the bio-freight terminal to £9.5m over the coming months. The move will safeguard 150 existing jobs and create a further 32 direct and 190 indirect jobs.
Once completed, the £2.6m intermodal rail terminal will have sidings capable of handling trains carrying up to 80 containers at any one time with 16,000 square metres of operational area and storage for up to 1,200 containers.
In addition to the intermodal terminal, AV Dawson is investing £4.5m on a 200m deep water shipping quay to serve the energy and sub-sea markets and £2.4m on phase one of a bulk warehouse development.
Work is expected to begin on the terminal as soon as due diligence is completed. This is expected to be before the end of April.
Gary Dawson, managing director of AV Dawson, said: “We set our stall out in 2005 that we would significantly ramp up the facilities and services we offer to the bio-resources sector and sub-sea and offshore industries. This combined £9.5m investment will deliver on that promise and provide a tremendous asset for Middlesbrough and the River Tees.”