PD Ports celebrates Scotland rail link with loco naming ceremony

A port operator has celebrated the extension of a rail link with an official locomotive naming ceremony.

PD Ports has unveiled the Teesport Express, co-branded alongside DB Cargo, to mark the success of its second daily freight connection to Scotland.

Five years after the launch of the company’s Intermodal Rail Terminal, at Teesport, the business added its second service north of the border to meet customer demand.

The naming ceremony was attended by senior representatives from the service’s key partners, including DB Cargo, ECS Containers and P&O Ferries.

Frans Calje, PD Ports’ chief executive, said: “The loco naming is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the great progress we’ve made and outline our plans for the future.

“Continuing to expand and strengthen our rail freight offering is important to us as rail provides vital UK connections for our customers and delivers environmental and cost-saving benefits.

“We’d like to thank our partners who have worked with us to make this service possible, and we look forward to a strong, ongoing relationship.

“These partnerships have laid the foundation for us to integrate our services, allowing us to offer faster and more frequent transit between Scotland and the continent to benefit our customers.”

Hans-Georg Werner, DB Cargo UK chief executive, said: “We originally started out running just one service for PD Ports to our terminals at Mossend and Grangemouth, in Scotland, however, demand was such that in October last year we agreed to run a second service as well.

“The loco naming is a celebration of our successful partnership, which I hope will continue to grow and will ensure the safe, speedy and sustainable delivery of goods to key markets like Scotland.”

Pieter Balcaen, chief executive of ECS & 2XL (European Logistics Group), added: “The recent Scotland 2 has created additional rail capacity, which is enabling us to further develop and strengthen our rail connections to and from Scotland.”

Nick Pank, P&O Ferries’ head of freight – North Sea, added: “This announcement represents another major step forward in the service we can offer our customers, for whom Teesport is the most reliable way to transport goods to or from northern Britain.”