Port Centric Trading Model Cuts CO2 and Traffic

Family-owned Tea Times Trading has become the latest British company to trade road haulage for a more sustainable method of logistics and ship its tea containers straight into South Shields. In doing so over 25,000 road miles, which creates 35,000kg of CO2, have been removed.

As a company that prides itself on being innovative and forward thinking, Tea Times Trading has broken with tradition by switching from truck-based logistics to a port centric model. Prior to working with the Port, Tea Times Trading was shipping containers into Felixstowe and transporting raw tea by road to an inland warehouse, from there the goods were moved to the tea packing site. This was subject to delays due to traffic congestion and more recently, lorry driver shortages. In contrast, a port centric model shipping into South Shields and using the Port's onsite warehouses is faster, more cost efficient and much more environmentally friendly.

Tea Times Trading has been making tea since the 19th century. Best known for bringing the rooibos tea enjoyed by literary detective "Precious Ramotswe" to our supermarket shelves, the company has a portfolio of award-winning brands, including Tick Tock, Dragonfly Tea and Eleven o'Clock.

Lockdowns during the Covid pandemic generated significant sales increases and the company has expanded rapidly in the past 18 months, with new 'working from home' norms resulting in consistently higher demand for tea products. Finding a more sustainable and lower cost shipping method working with the Port of Tyne has resulted in many competitive advantages, including a means to offset raw material price fluctuations with lower shipping costs and protecting its customer service reputation by mitigating lorry driver shortages.

"Working with the Port of Tyne brings many benefits at a critical time in the growth of the company. Port centric logistics is definitely the way forward for any business that wants to help achieve its net zero targets," says Patrick Busse, Director at Tea Times Trading.

"An ever-increasing number of companies are deciding to ship into their local ports instead. As one of the UK's deepest sea ports and with excellent links out to industrial hubs, the Port of Tyne is a very convenient option for manufacturers in any industry sector," says Richard Newton, Commercial Director for Logistics at the Port of Tyne