Loughborough Echo

300 new jobs with the rail freight site

Next to East Midlands Airport

- DAVID GODSALL david.godsall@reachplc.com

UP TO 300 new jobs are set to be created at the new regional rail freight interchang­e being constructe­d near East Midlands Airport.

Maritime Transport will operate a 22.5-acre rail freight terminal at SEGRO’s 700-acre East Midlands Gateway currently under developmen­t alongside the airport site.

SEGRO has signed a 25-year lease with Maritime Transport, the market leading multi-modal logistics company, which will operate the Strategic Rail Freight Interchang­e at SEGRO Logistics Park East Midlands Gateway (SLP-EMG) and will base its rail headquarte­rs at the site.

The 22.5 acre rail terminal will be capable of handling up to sixteen 775m-long freight trains daily and will provide storage capacity for more than 5,000 TEU - the measuremen­t of capacity of container terminals – which is equal to about 55,000 pallets of cargo.

A purpose-built 20,000 sq ft office will become the rail headquarte­rs under the ‘Maritime Intermodal’ division and will house operations staff, state-of-the-art training facilities and parking for a fleet of up to 100 trucks. Completion of the rail freight terminal is expected in late 2019 and the office element in summer 2020.

This is the first rail freight interchang­e in the East Midlands and will connect to the Castle Donington freight line, providing direct access to the UK’s network of rail freight interchang­es and all major UK ports.

Andrew Pilsworth, SEGRO 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, Maritime Transport, said: “This is a very exciting deal for us and we’re looking forward to launching SLP-EMG site as our flagship rail depot.

“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.”

SLP-EMG has planning consent for up to 6,000,000 sq ft of logistics accommodat­ion – a third of which is already under contract.

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.

 ??  ?? Maritime Transport will operate a 22.5-acre rail freight terminal at Segro’s 700-acre East Midlands Gateway developmen­t at Castle Donington.
Maritime Transport will operate a 22.5-acre rail freight terminal at Segro’s 700-acre East Midlands Gateway developmen­t at Castle Donington.

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