New £2.3 million warehouse opens at ABP’s Port of Newport

The port handles over 310 000 tpy of agricultural products and the new 3500 m2 warehouse, known as 20 Shed, will be used to store increasing volumes of cargo belonging to existing port customer, Feed Factors, which specialises in organic animal feed products.

ABP Newport has also invested in new weighbridges that have been installed outside the warehouse, located on the North Side of the South Dock, to help with operational efficiency during cargo handling.

Chris Green, Port Manager for ABP Newport and Cardiff, said: “In the last two years, we’ve invested more than £15 million into the port’s operational equipment and infrastructure because we want to ensure that our customers have a safe and efficient service at the Port of Newport and that our facilities are market leading. Our continued investments help us to accommodate the increasing cargo volumes that we are experiencing.”

Significant year-on-year growth has similarly been seen in the volume of cargo handled within some of the ports’ other specialist sectors, which, along with fertiliser and animal feed, include steel, aggregates and timber.

In September 2016, ABP Newport handled over 230 000 t of cargo, the highest amount handled in a single month at the port since April 2013. When lined up end-to-end the visiting vessels would have a combined length of almost 5 km.

The steel sector at the port has also recently benefited from the opening of additional warehousing. ABP Newport is the UK’s second largest steel handling port and in September 2016 the port handled a record 107 425 t of steel. The refurbishment of the Atlantic Shed warehouse, which was opened in early 2016, has provided an additional 7200 m2 of undercover storage to the ports’ steel related customers in order to assist them with continued growth.

The Port of Newport handles around 1.85 million tpy of cargo, supports 3000 local jobs and contributes £186 million per annum to the Welsh economy.

Read the article online at: https://www.drybulkmagazine.com/ports-terminals/21102016/new-23-million-warehouse-opens-at-abps-port-of-newport/