TESCO SELECTS CHRISTIAN SALVESEN AS LOGISTICS PARTNER FOR FROZEN CONSOLIDATED NETWORK PROJECT
Christian Salvesen PLC, the European logistics company, has been selected by
Tesco to operate its southern frozen consolidation centre, following a
nationwide tender and assessment programme carried out by Britain’s leading
supermarket chain.
This is a strategic cold store, warehousing and distribution initiative
designed to relieve the growing pressure on existing depot and RDC facilities
and improve efficiency, while delivering a positive impact on the environment.
Due to become fully operational on 1 January next year, the project centres on
Tesco’s automated cold store facility located at Daventry. Two other Tesco
distribution centres will retain frozen capacity with another five centres
being converted to cover the expected growth in fresh and chilled food
volumes.
Christian Salvesen will service the business from its major distribution
centre at Easton, near Grantham, where the company is currently investing #10m
in redevelopment. This will create additional capacity for 23,500 frozen
pallets and take the centre’s total capacity to 55,000 frozen pallets.
Easton will provide an ideal consolidation point for Tesco suppliers located
south of a line roughly from the Wirral to Skegness.
Consignments from Western Europe and other parts of the world will also be
consolidated at Easton before being forwarded to the three Tesco centres.
Five thousand outgoing pallet movements a week are initially expected, with
volumes expected to grow.
The new agreement further develops Christian Salvesen’s business relationship
with Tesco. Earlier this year, the logistics specialist won a 10-year, #260
million contract to manage and develop Tesco’s national network of recycling
service units. These include thousands of returnable transit packaging
trays, which together make more than 170 million trips a year.
Colin Miles, Managing Director of Christian Salvesen’s Food and Consumer
division, comments:
“This new agreement with Tesco is a significant achievement in a core part of
our business and underlines our position as the country’s leading supplier of
chilled and frozen food logistics services.”
