Ship sails straight into the record books at South Tyneside

St Dimitrios has sailed straight in to the record books.

Docking at the South Shields port, the bulk cargo vessel, St Dimitrios, broke the record for discharging the biggest cargo of wood-pellets ever handled there.

In total 62,000 tonnes of wood-pellets will be unloaded over a five day operation – destined for Drax Power station in North Yorkshire.

Ship breaks the record in South Tyneside.

The 229m long vessel has sailed almost 8,846 nautical miles over 44 days from Vancouver, Canada, with its cargo of wood-pellets which is now replacing coal as a fuel in power stations

to provide electricity for the National Grid.

Steven Harrison, Port of Tyne Chief Operating Officer, said: “The Port of Tyne has been pioneering handling of this type of cargo since 2010 - our skilled operation enables a cargo of this size to be discharged in only five days and stored in a purposely designed on-site storage facility.

“Our rail terminal then takes the pellets directly to the power station eliminating road miles and increasing efficiency.”

Since 2010 the Port of Tyne has handled almost 7million tonnes of environmentally sustainable wood-pellets.