Made-in-Chennai Dacia Dusters arrive at Port of Tyne, UK

South Tyneside, UK, March 28, 2013: The Renault-Nissan Alliance has established the Port of Tyne in northeast England as its common regional entry point for vehicles imported from Renault and Nissan plants overseas. This includes export cars made at the Renault Nissan Alliance plant at Oragadam in Chennai.

A few weeks ago, the first shipment of right-hand-drive Dacia Duster cars for UK customers, which had left Ennore Port in Chennai on November 30, 2012, arrived at the Newcastle deep water port from the Alliance plant in Chennai, India.

During shipment from India to the UK, the compact SUVs travel on the same vessels as Nissan Micras, which are also produced at the Renault-Nissan plant in Chennai. Workers complete final inspection and fittings on all vehicles at Port of Tyne, then load them in shared Alliance trucks for shipment to UK dealerships.

There are three export variants of the Dacia Duster SUV – 1.6-litre petrol, 110bhp and 90bhp diesel. A 4x4 version was also developed specifically for the export market. Renault India imports crucial components for the 4x4 model, fits them at the Oragadam plant, and then exports the SUV, rebadged as the Dacia Duster.

With the export of its first consignment of 350 Dusters to the United Kingdom and Ireland, Renault India has made its first foray into right-hand-drive markets worldwide. The company’s manufacturing plant at Oragadam, near Chennai, is currently the only facility globally to produce the right-hand-drive Duster, which is having a very good run in the Indian market.

Establishing a single port in northern England is the latest step from the fully integrated Renault-Nissan logistics team, which generated more than €200 million euros (Rs 1,408 crore) in savings last year. The unified Alliance logistics team has already created common packing materials, integrated shipping and cargo operations, and put in place common logistics operations in Europe, as well as in Brazil, Russia, India and China – the ‘BRIC’ markets. An integrated team also supports customs and trade across the Alliance. This team has negotiated better terms and implemented common practices to establish optimised customs and trade policies worldwide, contributing more than €100 million (Rs 704 crore) per year in cost savings and cost avoidance.

Consolidating in Port of Tyne

Since 1995, Nissan has used Port of Tyne as its main entry port into the UK for vehicles manufactured overseas. Nissan employs more than 6,000 workers and last year produced 510,000 vehicles at its plant in Sunderland, home of the Nissan Qashqai, Juke and Note vehicles.

Nissan’s partner Renault formerly relied on the Port of Teesport as its regional entry point for Renault vehicles and had also planned to receive Dacia vehicles there. As part of an Alliance tender activity in 2012 the benefits of consolidating the ports were confirmed and the recommendation to make Port of Tyne sole port in the region for the import of Alliance vehicles was ratified.

“Moving to a single, consolidated port is the latest step in the deepening collaboration between Renault and Nissan. Using the same port in this critical region reduces overall costs and complexity,” said Christian Mardrus, Renault-Nissan Alliance managing director for logistics.