(1888PressRelease)
October 28, 2009 - PD Ports and Teesside University welcomed the first 15 delegates on the newly launched Foundation Degree, specifically created for those working within the Ports Industry.
Launched in late September, the Foundation Degree, in Leadership and Management (Ports) is offered over two years on a part-time basis. Some of the students have not studied for over 30 years and the course will recognise that they need help to rejuvenate their learning skills.
The 15 delegates span a number of diverse roles throughout the PD Ports Group. These include employees from dock and port operations, engineering backgrounds, IT and sales & marketing.
Led by Teesside University’s director of programmes, Adrian Evans and programme leader, Lesley Mulcahy, the delegates spent the first two days of the course being introduced to the programme and getting to know their fellow delegates.
David Robinson, PD Ports’ group chief executive officer, said: “We are delighted to see the first round of delegates start the Foundation Degree. The response from our employees to join the programme was overwhelming and far outweighed our expectations. This is a true reflection of the dedication and commitment of our employees to further develop their leadership and management skills within the organisation, as well as fulfilling personal aspirations to more effectively develop their career potential.”
The degree is delivered using a Masterclass approach which has been developed by Teesside University on similar very successful programmes. The Masterclass will be delivered at the University by a lecturer and a senior PD Ports employee who will offer practical examples of how the lessons from the degree course can be applied in practice at the Port.
Teesside University has gained high profile recognition for the success and credibility of its foundation degree in leadership and management and has recently won two Times Higher Education awards in the category of Outstanding Employer Engagement Initiative and overall University of the Year.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
About PD Ports:
• PD Ports Limited was formed following the successful takeover of PD Ports plc by Babcock and Brown Infrastructure (ASX: BBI) in February 2006.
• PD Ports is a high performing specialist ports business offering a wide variety of supply chain services to improve customers’ international product and material movements into and out of – as well as within – the UK.
• PD Ports employs over 1140 members of staff, and generates an annual turnover of over £120 million from many UK locations.
• PD Ports operates throughout the UK from bases at many key ports and logistics centres.
The 3 business interests of PD Ports are:
o Port Operations– is split into two business streams – bulks and unitised and includes:
Teesport: one of the top 3 UK ports, with flows of containers, bulk traffics and finished cars, handling over 40 million tonnes of throughput p.a.
Humber & Small Ports: owners and/or operators of ports on the Humber estuary, Rivers Trent and Ouse, and at Medina Wharf, Isle of Wight. Service offerings include ships’ agency, chartering and stevedoring services.
Logistics: PD Logistics offers warehousing and distribution services at UK locations throughout the North East, Humberside & East Anglia, including at Felixstowe. Please visit www.pdlogistics.com
Development plans for Port Operations include:
• The Northern Gateway Container Terminal: a major new deep sea container terminal planned at Teesport on the South side of the River Tees. The £300+ million development will have a capacity of 1.5 million TEU (twenty foot equivalent unit) and is anticipated to deliver over 5,500 jobs to the Tees Valley, when fully operational. Please visit www.thenortherngateway.co.uk
• Portcentric Logistics: a new concept promoted by PD Ports for locating the storage and distribution of imported goods close to the point of arrival at a UK port. This concept avoids the slow handling and return of empty containers as well as eradicating unnecessary UK road mileage, which occurs when delivering to a traditional inland import centre, such as in the Midlands.
In 2006 ASDA Wal*Mart opened a 360,000 sq ft import centre at Teesport and has saved more than 2 million road miles by adopting the portcentric concept. Adjacent to the ASDA facility, Tesco operates a purpose built 1.2 million sq ft import centre at Teesport, which opens in 2009
o Conservancy – this includes:
Management of river traffic for the ports of Tees and Hartlepool, ensuring safe navigation and maintaining the required channel depth.
o Property– this includes:
Revenue and income from property and facilities owned by PD Ports and used by third party clients on long term leases.
Land that is not utilised for operational purposes and offers potential for development.
Port land at Hartlepool docks, which is highly attractive to the growing renewable energy sector, including offshore, windfarms, and biomass plants. PD Ports’ long term strategy is to further develop Hartlepool docks as a centre of excellence for the offshore support sector
For further information, contacts, interviews or related images … please contact:
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Initial press enquiries to:
Toby Anderson
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(t) + 44 (0) 20 7689 9009
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(e) toby ( @ ) imageline dot co dot uk
www.imageline.co.uk
Please visit www.pdports.co.uk
PD Ports contact: Kirsten Potter,
PR & Communications Manager
01642 877026 or 07794 215 670
kirsten.potter ( @ ) pdports dot co.uk
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