Port of Tyne

Bergen Line’s 6,670grt Leda in June 1970 departing the Tyne Commission Quay, North Shields. She was built in 1953 by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson at Wallsend. She later sailed as Najla (1979), Albatros (1981), Alegro (1984), Albatross (1985), Betsy Ross (1988) Amalfi (1989) and Star of Venice (1991). On 20th August 2001 she arrived at Aliaga to be broken up by Sok Ltd. (Malcolm Donnelly)

The Port of Tyne Authority was formed on 31st July 1968 as a Trust Port with a shield crest of four blue and red quarters representing South Tyneside, North Tyneside, Newcastle and Gateshead, and with the Latin motto of ‘Servat Vigilantia Concors’ or ‘United Vigilance Preserves Us’. It was constituted by an Act of Parliament with no owners or shareholders and is governed by an independent Board of up to four executive directors, and up to eight non – executive directors whose appointments are confirmed by the Secretary of State for Transport. The port receives no Government funding and is run on a strictly commercial basis, and reinvests all profits back into the port for the benefit of all its stakeholders, who are customers, employees, business, government, and the communities of South Tyneside, North Tyneside, Newcastle and Gateshead. The primary duty of the Port of Tyne Authority is to manage, maintain, develop and improve the port, with the role of the Board and its directors to ensure that the Port of Tyne fulfils this primary duty. The duties of non-executive directors are comparable to those of company directors with the additional obligations, responsibilities, and statutory duties specific to a large Trust Port.

The main Trust Ports in the U.K. are the Port of London Authority, Milford Haven Port Authority, Harwich Haven Authority, Dover Port Authority, Shoreham Port Authority, Poole Harbour Commissioners, Port of Sunderland Authority, Blyth Harbour Commission, and over forty very small ports governed by Trustees or Commissioners. The U.K. ports that have commercial shareholders and a different structure of management belong to Associated British Ports (ABP) or International Container Groups.

The major inquiry into the ports of the U.K. took place between 1961 and 1964 and was published as the Rochdale Report, from which the Port of Tyne Authority took Trust Port status in 1968.

An iconic view of the Tyne and its famous bridges. Berthed is the 961grt Southport of Ferriports Ltd. She was built in 1922 as the Emilie Dunford for Dunford SS Co. In 1932 she was sold to Ludvig Lorentzen of Oslo and renamed Lysaker II. In 1939 she joined O.M. Olsen of Fredrikstad and was renamed Samev. In 1950 she moved to Copthall Shipping of London as Copthall before becoming Southport in 1959. On 15th May 1964 she was stranded at the entrance to Briton Ferry when outward bound for London with slag and on 24th June she arrived at T.W. Ward to be broken up. (Armstrong Railway Photographic Trust)

A PORT THAT HAS UNDERGONE MANY CHANGES

During my 77 years, I have seen enormous changes on the river of my birth. A predominantly coal exporting and timber and iron ore importing port has been replaced by a slimmer port importing biomass, specialist bulk cargoes, and containers, and exporting two thirds of one million cars per year. The former shipbuilding and shiprepair workforce of 200,000 men have been replaced by specialist workers employed in wind turbine manufacture and high technology:-

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