Vulnerable supply chains That’s because the pandemic subjected the UK’s critical supply chains to stress tests that, in many cases, revealed weaknesses. Demand for medical and personal protective equipment (PPE) exceeded supply, exposing the country’s reliance on imports. In the words of the GTMA manufacturers’ trade body: “Amongst the many things we have learnt during the COVID-19 pandemic there is a wider recognition that cheapest purchase price has generated a vulnerability of supply chains with geographic disruption and reduced capacity to uplift production in the UK.

Direct deep sea port access Located just 2 miles from the Wilton International site, Teesport is a major deep sea port, ranked 7th in the UK by tonnage and in the UK top 5 for liquid bulk. Handling diverse cargo types Teesport handles multiple cargo types – container, ro-ro, dry bulk, liquid bulk, general and project – enabling logistics efficiency, flexibility and security. Global sea freight connectivity Teesport delivers a comprehensive range of sea freight services: global deep sea, European short sea and European hub feeders (e.

A specialist chemicals sector workforce Amongst the UK’s major chemicals cluster locations, Wilton International ranks 1st (jointly) for access to primary chemicals manufacturing workers. A highly skilled scientific R&D workforce Wilton International also ranks No.1 - by a significant margin - for access to a large-scale scientific R&D workforce, making it the UK location of choice for process industry investments with significant R&D elements. Combining skills with cost savings Wilton International combines a skilled chemicals, process industries and R&D workforce with significant average labour costs savings versus competitor UK locations and the Great Britain average.

Streamlining the planning and permissions process Arranging the necessary permissions for a new industrial project can be time-consuming – a factor that RCBC does everything possible to minimise. When it comes to planning, the council has two major strings to its bow. One is the support it offers through the planning process itself, as Adrian Miller, who heads up planning at the council, explains. “We provide a free planning pre-application service.