The operator of the North East's biggest port has announced a 51 percent surge in container volumes in the last six months despite the loss of its largest customer, the Newcastle Journal reported.

PD Ports, which owns Teesport in Middlesbrough, has handled 114,000 TEUs in the last six months, compared with 75,000 in the corresponding period last year.

The company said it has moved quickly to fight off the impact that the impending mothballing of Teesside Cast Products, which will come into effect from the end of this month with the loss of 1,700 jobs.

When Corus first announced its intentions to close some of its operations on Teesside, PD Ports made around 60 redundant, having previously outlined plans to axe a possible 120 workers.

The company has now said there will be no further redundancies as staff who may have faced losing their jobs have since been re-deployed to other areas of the business.

The port has enjoyed considerable growth in the level of deep sea traffic it attracts and has also been buoyed by growing business from Tesco and Asda.

Group chief executive David Robinson said he was confident that the port could sustain the level of growth it has seen in the last six months, and is in talks with a number of large and small retailers.

He also said the company's re-deployment programme would involve an extensive retraining process.