29.01.19
Operator revealed for flagship rail freight interchange in the East Midlands
Maritime Transport has been named by Sergo as the operator of a new flagship rail freight interchange in the East Midlands ahead of its construction by the end of 2019.
The company has signed a 25-year lease with Maritime Transport to operate the huge Strategic Rail Freight Interchange (SRFI) at the Logistics Park East Midlands Gateway (SLP-EMG) where Segro will now also base their rail headquarters.
The 22.5-acre rail terminal will be able to handle up to sixteen 775m freight trains daily, and will provide storage capacity equivalent to 45,000 pallets of cargo.
The rail freight interchange is expected into be completed in late 2019, and the accompanying office is expected in the summer of 2020.
The 20,000 sq. ft office will become the rail headquarters under the ‘Maritime Intermodal’ division which was only created last week following a rail freight deal between Maritime Transport and DB Cargo UK.
The base will house operations staff, training facilities, and parking for a fleet of up to 100 trucks – and Maritime say as well as providing critical infrastructure for the logistics supply chain, the development will create 7,250 jobs, 900 construction jobs, and 3,000 indirect jobs.
This will be the first rail freight interchange in the East Midlands, is “strategically located,” according to Maritime Transport, and will connect to the Castle Donnington freight line, providing direct access to the UK’s network of rail freight interchanges and all major UK ports.
Andrew Pilsworth, Segro’s business unit director national logistics, said: “We are thrilled to have signed Maritime Transport as the rail freight operator at SEGRO Logistics Park East Midlands Gateway and to be the home for their Rail HQ operations.
“Strategic Rail Freight Interchanges are recognised by the government as being nationally important, both economically and environmentally. The demand we are witnessing for the efficient movement of goods – driven by customer demand and technology – shows no sign of abating and SLP-EMG is a key piece of infrastructure in meeting this need.”
Simon Smart, CEO of Maritime Transport, said it was “a very exciting deal” and is looking forward to launching the flagship rail depot.
He commented: “Our intention is to use our logistics expertise within the intermodal sector to attract a significant number of new rail services to the terminal by offering a cost effective, highly reliable and environmentally efficient intermodal product.”