Ship Shape and Ready - PD Ports Honoured as Large Employer of the Year

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Ship Shape and Ready - PD Ports Honoured as Large Employer of the Year

[PD PORTS]

London, United Kingdom (PressExposure) July 09, 2008 -- The ship has come in for Tees Valley business PD Ports, Teesport after it scooped a prestigious award for effectively training and developing its employees.

The port operations company, which oversees the third largest UK port, has been crowned ‘Large Employer of the Year’ at the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) North East’s Celebration of Learning and Skills (CoLaS) awards 2008.

Since embarking on a major employee development programme at Teesport in 2004, PD Ports has overcome a significant shortfall in skills and knowledge within the organisation.

With the help of the Train to Gain service, the company’s training programme has included health and safety National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs ) at Level 2 for all staff, as well as NVQs in Port Operations and Supervisory Management for the Ports Industry and a bespoke leadership and team building programme that has been conducted for more than 200 staff in leadership roles.

On top of that the organisation has re-launched its Engineering Apprenticeship programme, is collaborating with the University of Teesside to develop a port-related foundation degree and is working with local schools and colleges to raise awareness of careers in the port industry.

The ambitious training programme has already resulted in a number of measurable business benefits. These include improvements in productivity, efficiency and staff motivation, a reduction in an already low number of accidents and a clear positive impact on the levels of service for its customers.

The re-launched Engineering Apprenticeship programme has benefited 22 employees, who have developed industry specific skills and are helping PD Ports to avoid future skill shortages.

To demonstrate the organisation's ongoing commitment to the training and development of its employees, PD Ports has recently made the Skills Pledge, which is a government initiative driven in the region by LSC North East.

Aimed at encouraging employers to support all employees to develop their basic skills, including literacy and numeracy and work towards relevant, valuable qualifications, the Skills Pledge is a voluntary, public commitment by the leadership of a company or organisation.

The CoLaS Awards highlight the often unrecognised achievements of individuals and employers who work ‘behind-the-scenes’ for their own personal development or to improve the skills of others.

The Large Employer of the Year award, sponsored by Gateshead College, was one of just twelve awards up for grabs. Representatives from PD Ports were joined by over 1,200 other invited guests to celebrate North East learning and skills achievements with an Oscar-style ceremony and spectacular local entertainment at the Sage Gateshead.

Talking of the company’s achievements, Russ McCallion, group human resources director, PD Ports, said: “We are delighted to have been recognised for our commitment to the continued training and development of our employees. The award is also a clear reflection of the way in which our employees have embraced their involvement in that training and development in paving the way for further performance improvement.

“The port is on the cusp of a renaissance, which will hopefully create a significant number of new jobs which will have a positive impact on the Tees Valley and the North East as a whole. Ensuring that our employees have the right skills to do their job and have the opportunity to develop new ones to progress their careers is fundamental to the company's continued success.”

Chris Roberts, regional director, LSC North East, said: “Large organisations have a significant job to do in updating the skills of their workforce on an ongoing basis. This includes people who have been within an organisation for years and those coming into an industry for the first time. As PD Ports proves, taking a company-wide approach to training and development brings significant business benefits by making sure that the right skills are in place to take advantage of current and future business opportunities.”

The full list of winners, sponsors and photography from the night are available by visiting www.lsc.gov.uk/colas08

• 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 1350 members of staff, and generates an annual turnover of over £130 million from 30 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– this includes:
- Teesport: one of the top 3 UK ports, with flows of containers, bulk traffics and finished cars, handling 50 million tonnes of throughput p.a.
- 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, opening in 2011. 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 350,000 sq ft import centre at Teesport and has saved more than 2 million road miles by adopting the portcentric concept. Tesco is also building a 1.2 sq ft import centre at Teesport to open in 2009.
- 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 ship’s agency, chartering and stevedoring services.
- Logistics: PD Logistics offers warehousing and distribution services at 15 UK locations throughout the North East, Humberside & East Anglia, including at Felixstowe. Please visit www.pdlogistics.com
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 forms part of the potential for development.
- The redevelopment of part (133 hectares) of Hartlepool docks known as Victoria Harbour.