Other East Coast ports in Britain seem to take the limelight, but there is one location that is quietly building traffic and championing rail freight. Teesport Intermodal Rail Terminal may be one of Britain’s best-kept secrets, but the facility dispatches trains daily to a growing roster of inland and short seaport terminals.

Recent news from Teesside has revolved around the political survival of the metropolitan mayor, Ben Houchen, who remains in office despite the collapse in support for the Conservative Party to which he is affiliated. However, the industrial survival story is that of industrial activity in the region, despite the repeated blows to the manufacturing and heavy industry base in the area. To that end, the renaissance of Teesport Intermodal Rail Terminal is all the more remarkable when all the economic indicators suggested the tracks may well be rusting away.

Bulk handling is less glamorous than intermodal

Unless you are a native of Middlesborough, you may have difficulty in picturing Teesside. The image that comes to mind is unrelentingly heavy industry and post-industrial. However, the reality is very different. The industrial landscape is far from unremitting. Middlesbrough and Teesport is at the heart of a massive regeneration programme, and downstream there are even efforts to kickstart a tourism industry – significantly helped by a silver screen appearance, The former steel town of Redcar is photogenic enough to have starred on the big screen (albeit doubling as a besieged wartime Dunkirk).

Just behind the cameras and director Christopher Nolan, the land is very much rising from its own siege. Redcar and neighbouring Middlesborough are reinventing themselves as centres for the renewable energy industry and reinvigorating the River Tees as an active port. Remarkably, Teesport is among the biggest in the UK. Nevertheless, it is somewhat overlooked, perhaps because its bulk handling operations are less glamorous than the more easily understood intermodal operations.

Teesport about to take the starring role

Handling about thirty million tonnes of cargo annually has perhaps overshadowed those intermodal operations at the port. Nevertheless, the highly developed container handling facility has the capacity to move half a million TEU. That capacity already supports a timetable of intermodal trains, connecting Teesport with terminals in Scotland and England.

“Trains are purposely timed with vessel arrivals, meaning goods are distributed without sitting on the quayside or waiting in storage,” explained a port statement. “With growth in rail services expected, Teesport is set to cement its place as the North’s leading rail hub for global imports and exports. We also offer direct rail connections between Teesport and Felixstowe, facilitating onward distribution.”

Teesport has diversified from a heavy reliance on the former core industries of steel and coal. Today the port is at the centre of a wide range of client businesses, many of them directly reliant on the port’s rail infrastructure. It is likely that the next time the cameras come calling, Teesport itself will be the star, and glorious failure will not be in the script.