# Iron ore cargo for Teesport



## WilliamH

I see the first cargo of iron ore has arrived at Teessport, ready for the re-firing of the blast furnace at Redcar. It brings back memories of Eston jetty and the pubs in South Bank, way back in the early 60's


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## Thats another Story

is the potash terminal still going at teesport William? i worked on a repair on the concrete legs carrying the traveling cranes in 76.john


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## Ray Mac

WilliamH said:


> I see the first cargo of iron ore has arrived at Teessport, ready for the re-firing of the blast furnace at Redcar. It brings back memories of Eston jetty and the pubs in South Bank, way back in the early 60's


We will not see any ore wagons arrriving under the Red Duster or British crews, mores the pity.

Ray


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## chadburn

JOHN PRUDEN said:


> is the potash terminal still going at teesport William? i worked on a repair on the concrete legs carrying the traveling cranes in 76.john


John, still an important export out of Teesport, now loading is done through a special spiral chute to reduce dust output.


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## Malky Glaister

Potash comes from Boulby mine to the south of Saltburn. Comres by rail.

Hope Redcar recovers it is a bit of a waste land at present, miles and miles.

I liked the South Bank Sporting club! Ties must be worn for entry, 5 shillings at the taxi office round the corner and returnable!!

Happy days on the Denholm Ore boats

regards Malky


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## trotterdotpom

WilliamH said:


> I see the first cargo of iron ore has arrived at Teessport, ready for the re-firing of the blast furnace at Redcar. It brings back memories of Eston jetty and the pubs in South Bank, way back in the early 60's


Good news about the steelworks, William. You might be thinking of The Junction - a class act in Southbank.

John T


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## chadburn

Malky Glaister said:


> Potash comes from Boulby mine to the south of Saltburn. Comres by rail.
> 
> Hope Redcar recovers it is a bit of a waste land at present, miles and miles.
> 
> I liked the South Bank Sporting club! Ties must be worn for entry, 5 shillings at the taxi office round the corner and returnable!!
> 
> Happy days on the Denholm Ore boats
> 
> regards Malky


Ah, the South Bank Sporting Club(Pint), the only "sporting" that went on there was the fighting outside usually between Man&Wife after he had "made eye's" at the Whitby Kipper(Ouch)


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## G0SLP

Burned Toast said:


> We will not see any ore wagons arrriving under the Red Duster or British crews, mores the pity.
> 
> Ray


Ray, there's plenty of ships flying the Red Duster about - no Brits on board though 

I'm delighted to see the blast furnace being fired up again - not before time. Well done those who stopped it being demolished. The only question is, of course, how many of those laid off when it closed are being taken back on...?

Mark


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## chadburn

It's sad to say but the Leader of the group who fought so hard to stop the demolition of the Blastfurnace died very recently never to see the Furnace being flashed up again, he was only in his 40's. The new Owner's are recruiting but like the Shipyard's and ICI most of the experienced worker's have had enough and given the size of their pay off prefer to go to work in their shed's making model's or painting.


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## G0SLP

That is sad to hear, chadburn. Very sad

Mark


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## Malky Glaister

I recall the Junction with fondness, the Naviagtion by the level crossing is still there. The Captain Cook was a must for everyone what ever your preferences.
Middleboro, Cargo Fleet, Eston, Grangetown. South Bank. A great run ashore

regards Malky


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## WilliamH

JOHN PRUDEN said:


> is the potash terminal still going at teesport William? i worked on a repair on the concrete legs carrying the traveling cranes in 76.john


Yes John, they are still exporting potash and on the North East News on television last night was a report of finding a new thicker seam of potash in North Yorkshire and a mine will be sunk. So a little bit more good news for the area.


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## Frank P

In 1971 I signed on the only ore carrier that I sailed ever on and she was the Norwegian M/S Arabella, at Middlesbrough, I had to change trains three times (Preston - Middlesbrough), the journey took a long time considering it is not all that far. If I remember correctly we discharged the ore into railway wagons. 
Was there a pub called the "The Jungle" in the town?

Cheers Frank


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## Malky Glaister

The Jungle was in North Shields on the Tyne. It was a nickname and I forget the real name. It is long gone so I have been told.
A real den of iniquity and therefore a magnet!!!

regards Malky


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## G0SLP

Malky Glaister said:


> The Jungle was in North Shields on the Tyne. It was a nickname and I forget the real name. It is long gone so I have been told.
> A real den of iniquity and therefore a magnet!!!
> 
> regards Malky


The Jungle was 'officially' the Northumberland Arms [=P]

Mark


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## muldonaich

the jungle and manny bugo ex boxer on the door i think his last fight was with the tonga terror brgds kev.


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## shieldrow

Some interesting statistics regarding the first shipment of iron ore to the re-opened (soon) Redcar blast furnace.
The Taiwanese flagged China Act brought in 149,000 tonnes of Brazillian ore and the representative of PD ports, the operator of the ore terminal stating in a TV interview that they expected a further 35 similair shipments during the year.
That means that the total anticipated ore to handled through the terminal would be about 5.2 Mt of ore/year.
Not so long ago on the northeast coast of England with its four iron ore ports (Tyne, Harlepool, and two Tees ports (South Bank & Cargo Fleet), how many 16,000t-20,000t ore carriers would it have taken to deliver the same or slightly less tonnage, an awful lot. Hence this is one of the numerous reasons why the UK ore fleet dimished. Note in 1965-1970 the North East imported an average of 4-5 million tons with the Tees handling 2.5Mt,Tyne 1.25Mt and Hartlepool abt 1Mt or less. This equated to about 5 ships being in port every week.
No doubt with the crews visiting such establishments as the South Bank sporting club, the Jungle at North Shields and other dubious watering holes.


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## Erimus

Frank P said:


> In 1971 I signed on the only ore carrier that I sailed ever on and she was the Norwegian M/S Arabella, at Middlesbrough, I had to change trains three times (Preston - Middlesbrough), the journey took a long time considering it is not all that far. If I remember correctly we discharged the ore into railway wagons.
> Was there a pub called the "The Jungle" in the town?
> 
> Cheers Frank


Delighted to see the Arabella mentioned...one of my favourite ships and certainly one of the most reliable of the small ship fleet we ran.
If you were discharging in the Tees in 1971 the 'watering hole' would likely have been the ex Kenya Cafe renamed the Bongo Club..something similar to Jungle methinks!.........

geoff

p.s. reading last missive in this thread brings back a bit of nostalgia, whcih is what we are all here for...so I will pen a replyon how many ships made the tonnages up......


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## muldonaich

the jungle was in north shields brgds kev.


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## borderreiver

I was on the Iron Barque Commons bros for a period . Many trips to Red car first the big grabs then move up the jetty for the smaller cranes. Then onto the buoys to repair grab damage.


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## Erimus

borderreiver said:


> I was on the Iron Barque Commons bros for a period . Many trips to Red car first the big grabs then move up the jetty for the smaller cranes. Then onto the buoys to repair grab damage.


Sounds about right!

geoff


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## Frank P

Erimus said:


> Delighted to see the Arabella mentioned...one of my favourite ships and certainly one of the most reliable of the small ship fleet we ran.
> If you were discharging in the Tees in 1971 the 'watering hole' would likely have been the ex Kenya Cafe renamed the Bongo Club..something similar to Jungle methinks!.........
> 
> geoff
> 
> p.s. reading last missive in this thread brings back a bit of nostalgia, whcih is what we are all here for...so I will pen a replyon how many ships made the tonnages up......


Hello Geoff, now that you have mentioned the name Bongo Club, I think that was the one,

Cheers Frank.......


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## Erimus

shieldrow said:


> Some interesting statistics regarding the first shipment of iron ore to the re-opened (soon) Redcar blast furnace.
> The Taiwanese flagged China Act brought in 149,000 tonnes of Brazillian ore and the representative of PD ports, the operator of the ore terminal stating in a TV interview that they expected a further 35 similair shipments during the year.
> That means that the total anticipated ore to handled through the terminal would be about 5.2 Mt of ore/year.
> Not so long ago on the northeast coast of England with its four iron ore ports (Tyne, Harlepool, and two Tees ports (South Bank & Cargo Fleet), how many 16,000t-20,000t ore carriers would it have taken to deliver the same or slightly less tonnage, an awful lot. Hence this is one of the numerous reasons why the UK ore fleet dimished. Note in 1965-1970 the North East imported an average of 4-5 million tons with the Tees handling 2.5Mt,Tyne 1.25Mt and Hartlepool abt 1Mt or less. This equated to about 5 ships being in port every week.
> No doubt with the crews visiting such establishments as the South Bank sporting club, the Jungle at North Shields and other dubious watering holes.



What a great set of facts...very interesting.Thanks a lot........started my thinking of what the BISC(Ore) situation was in 1965 re fleet composition, especially as it affected the ports mentioned....

The Fleet at that time consisted of 72 Time charter ships,many of them fairly new at the start of 15 year charters. 47 of these were British owned/managed although only about 6 had non-UK crews then ......24 of the fleet were the 8200/9100 Port Talbot sized ships,mainly the Houlder, Denholm & Clarkson vessels. 5 vessels were the 'big ones' as we thought then!.....up to Victore & Welsh Herald at just short of 28000 max. deadweight.

In 1965 the Tees could take:- 1 ship Cargo Fleet max 17500 approx.
Eston Jetty had been replaced by South Bank Wharf, technically 1 x27000 and by moving down during discharge 2 x say 17000. Middlesbrough Dock was still open, till 1980,and was often used as a discharge to rail wagons...though the Railway company didn't like our ships as they pushed water out of the locks as they moved into the 80' wide entrance. Upriver Gjers Mills Ayresome steelworks carried on until 1966 and took about three x 9000 tonners a month. The most vessels we had discharging in the Tees at one time was 7............ 

However,a significant part of the Tees traffic in those days was brought in under Contracts of Affreightment with the Ore Companies.
As was commonly known the Swedish Ores out of Oxelosund and Lulea, plus via Narvik, were bread and butter to the UK and up to 50% was in their own 'Grangesberg' vessels, from small ones of the 'K' class....Karesuando/Karmac etc; and 13000/15000 'A' Class, Arjeplog/Adak etc. 

Additionally about 90% of the Cerro Bolivar Ores from Puerto Ordaz. in Venezuala, was carried by United States Steels 'own' vessels.. owned/operated by the Navios Corporation. There were other smaller contracts, such as from Kirkenes and Vasteras, where our vessels were not required..

.......................

I see in the Middlesbrough Evening Gazette yesterday that the new labour agreements for manning the furnace and slab plants has finally been agreed so we look forward to another generation,hopefully, of the Redcar B Furnace in operation............

geoff


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## Spurling Pipe

Geoff,

British Steel had some very larger vessels at Redcar/Mingming/PT in the 1970s.

Dave


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## trotterdotpom

For anyone interested, there is a photo of the Bongo International which I took in 2009 in the Famous Watering Holes Thread - post 932. Don't know how to make a link to it.

A class act.

John T


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## Erimus

Spurling Pipe said:


> Geoff,
> 
> British Steel had some very larger vessels at Redcar/Mingming/PT in the 1970s.
> 
> Dave


Yes my comments were based on the 1965 situation on Teesside et al...which is just after I moved to London to handle these ships. Most of the 15 year timecharter vessels (8000 to 15000 variety) ran out of charter by mid 70's and of course we had Immingham, Port Talbot, Redcar Ore & the ill fated Hunterstone in action by then...so my first supervessels to route were the,then, Trentwood, Gene Trefethan and the Muirfield ( ex Tibetan)...after a few Panamax ships had also joined on a longish term basis as replacements..

I left BSC full time in 1976 to go intially to Immingham where I was involved in steel rather than ores and as an agent again.....I moved back to the Tees in 1979......As part of my latter life as a Transport Consultant I worked for BSC again..but this time exporting redundant steel mills from Shotton & Lackenby! 

So this is very much a memory lane exercise!
geoff


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## Erimus

trotterdotpom said:


> For anyone interested, there is a photo of the Bongo International which I took in 2009 in the Famous Watering Holes Thread - post 932. Don't know how to make a link to it.
> 
> A class act.
> 
> John T


Thanks John will have a look...In 'my day' it was the Kenya Cafe and many is the time where we have had to call there, at lunchtime, to find crew who had 'stayed over upstairs'.....The Somali curries they made,always seemed to be chicken, but were famous as curry wasn't a common thing then..

geoff


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## chadburn

The Kenya Cafe (whose owner was a Labourer at Head Wrightsons) had one of Middlesbrough first Police surveilliance camera's looking at it and what went on there, the camera was mounted on the corner of Crown House which is on the other side of the railway lines.


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## Erimus

chadburn said:


> The Kenya Cafe (whose owner was a Labourer at Head Wrightsons) had one of Middlesbrough first Police surveilliance camera's looking at it and what went on there, the camera was mounted on the corner of Crown House which is on the other side of the railway lines.


Any good pictures of you then??

cheers

geoff


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## calvin

the magnet the junction the queens the bongo our watering holes on soiuters but who could forget sweaty betty from eston


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## Erimus

calvin said:


> the magnet the junction the queens the bongo our watering holes on soiuters but who could forget sweaty betty from eston


As I said in a PM, to one of the regulars this thread,the same Sweaty Betty from Eston Jetty had the proverbial soft heart!......Allegedly,it is said, if any of the juniors in the Shipping Offices were short she would lend a couple of quid till payday..BUT if they didn't pay her back she would threaten to ring their boss and say they had been with her!

Can see the reasoning cashwise....I got £2 a week, 80 hours a week and provide your own bike when I started at Constantines in 1958!. and don't suppose the other Customs Clerks were much better.

The Magnet I was last in about a year ago.....a disaster area....think there had been a drugs raid the night before.. The others just names to me......

geoff


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## chadburn

Erimus said:


> Any good pictures of you then??
> 
> cheers
> 
> geoff


Could be(*)), before I went off to do N.S it was one of the "establishment's" visited on the Apprentice's Friday night jaunt over the Border, when I came back the jaunts had stopped as most of the lad's I knew were doing their last year in the M.N. there was no work at Smiths (Tees) to keep them on. I ended up at Smiths (Tyne) to finish off and then I did the same.


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## Erimus

...........it seems the Bongo is the club of choice to the legal profession these days as I know a couple of qualified Solicitors...yes, pun intended, and the younger Barristers from Crown Court are known to down a pint of something there...

geoff


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## chadburn

Is that before or after they have served a period of time in Prison (I'am just Tombling along, the Cherokee's (Police) are after me etc, etc.


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## Malky Glaister

Great pubs all of them. Great memories. Great ships. Great to have been involved.

regards Malky


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## Erimus

chadburn said:


> Is that before or after they have served a period of time in Prison (I'am just Tombling along, the Cherokee's (Police) are after me etc, etc.


Have you been out to the pub again???

geoff


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## WilliamH

Erimus, did you know Leo Clements, he was Capt. of Knightsgarth and didn't like cold weather. If you did know him you might know why Knightsgarth was never sent to a cold water port.


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## Erimus

WilliamH said:


> Erimus, did you know Leo Clements, he was Capt. of Knightsgarth and didn't like cold weather. If you did know him you might know why Knightsgarth was never sent to a cold water port.


Yes I remember Captain Clements and didn't know about his dislike of cold weather!....It certainly had nothing to do with me,just luck, as when we did fleet allocations, which were six to eight weeks in advance, we picked the ship that was best positioned,date wise, if there was an option, say a west coast vessel for Seven Islands and an east coast ship for, say Narvik or Murmansk.... 

How strange....

rgds

geoff


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## Peter Trodden

I was on the Knightsgarth, Oct,1965. The Masters signature in my Discharge Book is Clemments. I joined Her in B-Head,sailed to Lulea via the Kiel Canal and it was bloody cold(EEK) Maybe not on the Bridge,but it was on deck. Payed off in South Shields. Next ship,Blue Star and headed south for warmer weather.(Gleam)
Peter T.


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## Erimus

Peter Trodden said:


> I was on the Knightsgarth, Oct,1965. The Masters signature in my Discharge Book is Clemments. I joined Her in B-Head,sailed to Lulea via the Kiel Canal and it was bloody cold(EEK) Maybe not on the Bridge,but it was on deck. Payed off in South Shields. Next ship,Blue Star and headed south for warmer weather.(Gleam)
> Peter T.


So thats another urban legend'killed off' then!

geoff


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