The Airport Operator: Summer 2025
20 June 2025
Work is underway at Teesside International Airport to create a digital testing ground to make trade easier for business.
Backed by £3.5m of funding from the Teesside Freeport, the 5G-enabled digital trade test bed on the airport’s north side will see a private network cover a large stretch of the site to help carry out a wide range of trade, goods movements and digital processes. Building work has begun to create a facility to test freight scanning software technologies.
The collaboration between Teesside University and the Teesside Combined Authority aims to ease practical problems which hamper operations in customs zones. The idea is that rather than needing dozens of paper documents, digital trade has the potential to drastically reduce the amount of time and expense associated with importing and exporting goods. Administration typically accounts for 15% of trade costs and using digital technology to make these tasks more efficient could save the UK economy billions of pounds.
More: The Airport Operator: Summer 2025 - Pages 56 - Airports UK - 20 June 2025
