A £10 million port investment is being made to handle steel distribution in northern Lincolnshire.
PD Ports is close to completing a dedicated new 200,000 sq ft site at its Groveport facility on the River Trent. It will support long-term customer Barrett Steel as it grows its market share, and signifies the start of a new contract that will take the partnership to 2040 and beyond.
The new facility, launching early next year, will support the expansion of Barrett’s footprint on the Humber, and will be further enhanced with additional investment from the port operator to double the size of its transport fleet. It is a move described as strengthening Barrett’s national distribution network, allowing for just-in-time deliveries to be made across the UK.
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It is PD’s largest investment on the Humber in decades, with the 190-acre site between Gunness and Flixborough, on the outskirts of Scunthorpe, its largest location in the region.
Geoff Lippitt, chief commercial officer, said: “The new Barrett Steel facility is a huge milestone for PD Ports at Groveport. This marks the largest single piece of investment in the site since we first acquired it back in 2015 and demonstrates our intentions to position Groveport as the UK’s leading steel handling hub for steel sourced both domestically and internationally.”
The state-of-the-art warehouse has also been instrumental for both parties in continuing to realise their shared sustainability targets - it is the first building in the UK to be constructed in ‘XCarb’ steel – steel made using 100 per cent recycled content and 100 per cent renewable energy – supplied by fellow PD Ports customer, ArcelorMittal. The new build is also primed to welcome solar panels in the future.
Mr Lippitt said: “As a business, we are constantly striving to reduce our industrial impact on the environment and have ambitious decarbonisation targets to reach net zero. This innovative warehouse is a fantastic example of how we can utilise lower carbon materials in order to reduce emissions across the supply chain.”
Barrett Steel, a sixth generation Bradford-headquartered operation, has been a leading steel stockholder and processor for more than 150 years. With over 30 sites nationwide, it describes the new facility as “a huge mark of intention” for it to remain at the forefront of the UK steel industry.
Guy Barrett, group purchasing director, said: “This new facility will increase our capacity and ability to offer a just in time solution for steel fabricators across the UK. Being able to deliver the project using a low embodied carbon, the first of its kind in the UK, not only demonstrates our commitment to our own net zero goals but also showcases a tangible solution to the questions around sustainability currently facing the industry.
“We are delighted to be continuing our longstanding relationship with PD Ports on this ground-breaking project.”
Barrett had taken on several steel distribution centres from British Steel, following its acquisition by Jingye Group, while PD also made a multi-million pound investment at Groveport for All Steels Trading, another long-serving customer, just before the Covid pandemic outbreak.
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