PD Ports has unveiled its latest investment at Groveport on the River Trent – a £500,000 warehouse facility that will boost trade efficiencies and reduce costs for port customers as part of a long-term plan to continue growing business on the Humber.
The 10,000ft2 transit warehouse – an interim storage location for cargo – will improve the turnaround time on vessels carrying weather-sensitive cargo, including fertiliser and steel hollow sections, allowing for temporary, covered quayside storage before transportation to a main warehousing facility on site.
This investment will maximise the efficiency of the ship-to-shore cranes that move cargo from the vessels onto the quay, therefore decreasing the time vessels stay in port, providing a more cost-effective solution for customers in terms of chartering costs.
PD Ports owns and operates five strategically positioned, well-connected and complementary sites on the Humber including Groveport, Hull, Howden, Immingham and Keadby.
“This new investment forms part of our wider plans to diversify the cargos we currently handle and will make Groveport a highly attractive option for businesses dealing with weather-sensitive products,” said Geoff Lippitt, PD Ports Chief Commercial Officer.
The new facility will accommodate a range of cargos that would usually require immediate transfer to covered warehousing for shelter from adverse weather conditions due to their sensitive nature.
Long-standing customer, All Steels Trading, will be one beneficiary of the new transit store, with steel hollow imports now able to be temporarily housed in covered, quayside storage whilst discharge completes and before transfer to All Steels Trading’s on-site warehouse. “After nearly two years of disruption caused by the pandemic and all the associated operational constraints … the proximity of this large quayside warehouse, immediately adjacent to the berth, has significantly improved discharge speeds and, with vessel availability being so tight in the current market, off-loading speeds have never been so important,” added Laurence McDougall, Managing Director, All Steels Trading.
