Teesside Granted Freeport Status
March 03, 2021
In the 2021 Spring Budget Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced Teesside as one of the first eight regions in England to be granted Freeport status.
The Chancellor commented that these Freeports will generate trade and jobs, focusing on Teesside in his announcement for the region’s past success and direction towards an innovative, greener future.
We have long supported a Teesside Freeport and with our Wilton International site included in the zone we can offer a route to low carbon utilities to investing businesses.
Andy Koss, CEO UK & Middle East, said,
“A freeport on Teesside will promote regeneration in the region and will be an excellent spur to sustainable inward investment and job creation. Teesside has a long association with the chemical sector and we know that this creates highly skilled roles, generates significant value for the UK, and helps to develop supply chains for the region.
At Sembcorp Energy UK, we have development land available and an established “plug and play” infrastructure, enabling the benefits of a freeport zone to be realised quickly, as new investors will have the utilities they need as soon as they are operational. We will continue to work with our partners in the region to make this a success.
We also believe that this announcement will support a transition to a low carbon economy alongside our own plans and those of our existing customers to decarbonise our operations, as Teesside is also well placed to deliver on the Government’s Net Zero targets”.
Find out more about the opportunities available at Wilton International here.