From General Operative to moving the business forward while raising a family, Patti is an integral part of the commercial team.
Having previously worked in retail, Patti started her career at PD Ports looking after the rail shunts to and from Asda and Tesco’s distribution centres at Teesport. Progressing to Commercial Assistant, she then had to adjust her work life balance following the birth of her first two children. And despite reducing her days to three from five, Patti continued to develop her career. After gaining operational experience as part of an 18 month progression plan – where she spent time in freight forwarding, transport and admin, as well as passing her forklift truck exam – Patti became a Key Accounts Manager in Logistics, dealing with Taylors of Harrogate and Quorn.
“I’ve been on several courses throughout my time at PD Ports and they’ve always supported me in any knowledge or skill gaps I’ve had. I’d encourage anyone to step out of their comfort zone. You don’t need to be an expert in a field to work at PD Ports.”
Four years later, Patti was tasked with supporting the General Manager in moving the rail aspect of our business forward. Later she took over responsibility for heading our rail development, introducing a second daily service to Scotland and a twice per day Tees to Doncaster service for Containership and IKEA. A daily Daventry service was also launched for Tesco.
With an eye on the future and succession planning in mind, Patti now looks after our storage and shipping line accounts. She’s also proudly leading our Women’s Network Group alongside her day job.
“I’ve been at PD Ports for 19 years for a reason. And that reason is that I’ve never felt like I needed a change. We have a suite of services and support functions that makes sure there’s never a dull day.”
Head to careers to find out more about working at PD Ports and our opportunities.
