Builders Merchants Journal – BMJ Publishing to Builders Merchants and the UK merchanting industry for more than 95 years
Cemex and DB Cargo are celebrating the millionth tonne of aggregates supplied to their Warrington rail depot, since it opened in mid-2016.
The location, initially thought of as a temporary site, has become established as a core rail depot in Cemex’s UK supply chain network to serve the Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Lancashire areas and supply vital building materials to support with the growth of housing, construction and infrastructure projects across these regions.
The Warrington depot is supplied by rail from Cemex’s Dove Holes quarry, with each delivery by rail able to carry up to 2,000 tonnes of construction materials in comparison to a HGV vehicle, which is only able to carry around 18 – 30 tonnes per journey.
Last year Cemex ran over 2,000 rail freight trains, the equivalent of taking around 1,500 truck journeys off UK roads.
Mark Grimshaw-Smith, Cemex UK’S Rail and Sea Manager, said, “This is a fantastic achievement for everyone involved with this project. The Warrington depot is a great success story in the growth of our rail freight operations at Cemex. It serves an important developing market with essential building materials and is an example of how industry can overcome challenges around space, logistics and connectivity to the mainline, when installing new freight hubs as part of their existing supply chain network.”
Cemex currently moves around 20% of its aggregates in the UK by rail and around 55% of the materials out of its Dove Holes quarry are transported by rail, with plans to grow this figure in order to meet future demand for building and construction materials across the UK.
