B&M switches imports from south coast to Mersey
Peel Ports Mersey has signed a deal with B&M Retail that will result in the retailer increasing its container shipments fourfold to 12,000 a year through the Port of Liverpool.
The pair said the contract will significantly reduce inland road haulage costs, road congestion and CO2 emissions.
B&M will use the service for importing mainly fast-moving consumer goods from the Far East. B&M operates 271 stores nationwide, with plans for further store expansion. The retailer's head office and main distribution centre is in Speke, south Liverpool, 14 miles from the Port of Liverpool in Seaforth.
Until recently all of its imports entered the UK via southern coast ports, before being moved by road and rail to its national distribution centres in Liverpool and Blackpool.
Bobby Arora, B&M Retail's owner and managing director, said: "Our partnership with the Port of Liverpool has been pivotal to our supply chain and I am in no doubt their cooperation, hard work and dedication to B&M has played a significant part in our success. Our relationship will continue to grow along with our business."
Paul McCoy, business manager at Peel Ports Mersey, which operates both the Port of Liverpool and the Manchester Ship Canal, said: "This is further proof that the strategy of importing through the Port of Liverpool offers real benefits to UK importers.
"Liverpool is the most centrally positioned deep sea port in the UK, ideally situated to serve all cargo bound for Northern Britain by optimising the supply chain, and we are delighted that this has been recognised by B&M Retail."
Great news for the Port The North West and for common sense
By don draper