STEELMAKER SSI UK has celebrated another major milestone having exported five million tonnes of steel slab through Teesport.

The five millionth tonne was loaded on to the vessel Double Prestige on Tuesday as part of a 68,000 tonne shipment. 

It left Teesport this morning (Thursday) destined for SSI in Thailand.

The milestone comes almost two years since the former Corus plant returned to operations following a two year hiatus. 

Jerry Hopkinson, managing director – bulks and port services, at Teesport owners PD Ports, said: “We are delighted to see SSI UK reach this significant milestone.

"Since the blast furnace reopened almost two years ago the relationship between PD Ports and SSI UK has grown stronger which enables milestones like this to be achieved. We will continue to support SSI UK and deliver an outstanding and first class performance.”

Cornelius Louwrens, UK business director and chief operating officer for SSI UK said: “We will soon have been operating for two years and although this period has been a difficult one for steelmaking businesses, we have been able to celebrate a lot of operational successes.

"These have only been made possible by the continued support from our parent company and the many stakeholders involved, including our employees. All of our output has been exported via Teesport, with a value of around US$2.7 billion. This particular aspect of the operation, working closely with PD Ports, has been an outstanding success.”