A student project which has led to significant safety improvements at North East-based Teesport has won Daniel McDougal, an engineering apprentice at PD Ports, runner-up prize in the Skills Showcase 2009 event. For the project, part of a four-year course for the Higher National Certificate in Engineering, Daniel designed a mechanical grab trailer to make it safer to fix the grabs to cranes on the dock, at Teesport. The grabs are attached to the Port’s Gottwald cranes and are used for discharging up to 30 bulk cargo vessels in a year at Teesport and Hartlepool docks.