Port of Tyne has been re-appointed as a port centric warehousing and logistics service provider by tea and coffee specialist, Ringtons. 

Best known for delivering high quality tea and biscuits to doorsteps across the North East, family owned Ringtons has been using the coastal feeder service from Felixstowe to Port of Tyne to transport hundreds of containers of tea.  Ringtons then use the Port of Tyne’s warehousing services for processing tea before delivery of the goods to its Longbenton factory in Newcastle. In switching from road haulage to shipping, each of the 200 containers arriving into the UK and transported by Port of Tyne saves over 500 road miles as a return journey, adding up to over 100,000 road haulage miles avoided each year.

Port of Tyne has over 15 years’ experience in handling tea, with over a third of the UK’s tea imports arriving via the North East port. The long standing relationship with Port of Tyne enables Ringtons to streamline their supply chain and reduce environmental impact. Tea from around the world arrives in Felixstowe where it travels north via a coastal feeder service into the Tyne and onwards to the Longbenton site. A feeder vessel emits 7 times less CO2 to move a container per km than an average laden HGV. Port of Tyne’s port centric warehousing and logistics service allows Ringtons to benefit from seamless handling of raw tea and finished products from start to finish, including increased and more flexible storage facilities. 

Daniel Smith, Head of Brand and a fifth generation member of the Ringtons founding family said: “We are a proud North East business working with an expansive group of customers all facilitated by our operations in the North East, with our local port allowing us to be more cost efficient and also better for the environment. Sustainability is hugely important to us and we have set ourselves a clear divisional Net Zero target. Receiving containers direct from origin via the Port of Tyne offers us a more environmentally sustainable, time-efficient and importantly, cost-effective solution.”

Richard Newton, Port of Tyne Commercial Director, said: “Using the coastal feeder service is a great example of smart green logistics and something every company using southern ports should be considering, to reduce their carbon footprints.  Even if your business is only shipping a single container each month, it’s better for the environment, cheaper and quicker than using road haulage.”