UK Archives

Elanders UK makes senior appointment

Posted on 3 February, 202231 July, 2025 by David Priestman

North Tyneside-based Elanders UK has appointed Martin Ellison to the position of head of business development.

Having previously worked as head of sales and marketing at Cirrus Research, in his new role Martin will head up the UK business development team with a strong focus on growing the businesses supply chain footprint within the fashion & lifestyle and consumer goods sectors.

Elanders UK is part of Elanders Group, a global partner for integrated supply chain solutions with over 90 operations across four continents. It provides flexible and agile solutions for complex supply chains, providing customers with value-added services such as print and packaging resources which are integrated into its core business model.

Ellison said: “This is an exciting time to join Elanders UK and I am looking forward to working alongside the senior management and marketing teams to help grow the business within existing markets and through the sectors we have identified as offering real opportunities for growth.

“We have very ambitious growth plans for the UK, which would see us grow substantiality from our current position. To achieve our goal, we will be appointing additional, skilled people, during the next 24 months.

“As an integrated supply chain specialist, we add real value to customers. We have the ability to manage the supply chain process from initial customer contact through to fulfilment. We offer such a diverse range of services it allows us to be flexible in terms of the solutions we offer our customers and the way we operate the business.”

Kevin Rogers, managing director for Elanders in the UK, said: “It’s exciting times at Elanders, as we have very ambitious growth plans and we will take a real focus on our supply chain capabilities. It’s great to have Martin on board with his many years of experience in business development to guide our already strong performing sales and marketing teams.”

Prologis increases logistics footprint in Coventry

Posted on 28 January, 2022 by Keith McKinley

Prologis, a leading developer and owner of logistics property in the UK, has acquired an additional building at its highly successful logistics park in Coventry, further strengthening its holdings in a core location.

The 56,000 sq ft building, which is let to UK Flooring Direct until 2025, has been acquired for a consideration of £8m from a UK fund. Prologis now owns and manages 1.86m sq ft of prime logistics space at the park, with potential for further expansion in the future.

Built by Prologis in 2003 as a design-and-build project, the building has been bought back to help meet existing and future demand for logistics space in the area.

From its location within the logistics ‘golden triangle’, at the heart of the UK’s motorway network, Prologis Park Coventry is less than two miles from Junction 3 of the M6. The site is currently fully-let and along with UK Flooring, customers include household names such as Bridgestone, DHL, Royal Mail and Co-Op.

James Hemstock, Director in the Capital Deployment & Leasing team at Prologis UK, said: “This is a purchase which signals our commitment to strengthening our asset base at Prologis Park Coventry – an excellent location that continues to meet the needs of our customers in a core Midlands market. We hope that we will soon be in a position to extend the site further, so we can continue to meet demand for much-needed warehouse and logistics space within the logistics ‘golden triangle’.”

Prologis was advised on the property acquisition by Acre Capital.

Terberg joins zero emission logistics testbed

Posted on 25 January, 2022 by Keith McKinley

The onboarding of Terberg as a partner and the receipt of a retrofitted electric tractor unit is a huge success for 5G CAL and its mission to be the first project of its kind in the UK to deliver Zero Emission Automated Logistics.

The next step in the ambitious 5G Connected and Automated Logistics (CAL) project sees the onboarding of new project partner Terberg and next generation 5G infrastructure.

The 5G CAL project was awarded a share of £30m through 5G Create, an open competition combining British creativity with innovative new uses for 5G as part of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s £200m 5G Testbeds and Trials programme (5GTT).

The government is pushing ahead with its plans to unlock new economic benefits and productivity boosts from 5G while commercial rollout continues at pace. It has now funded 24 5G testbeds across the UK, which have trialled almost 70 different 5G technologies, products and applications.

The £30m package consists of £16.4m from the government match-funded by organisations ranging from large tech and telecoms companies to SMEs and local authorities.

New project partner, Terberg, is bringing a new dimension to the £4.9m 5G CAL project announced in 2020, as it provides the HGV that will be retrofitted with autonomous technology.

Driven by an ambition to be one of the first manufacturers to bring teleoperated HGVs to market, and allowing these to be controlled remotely, Terberg is all set to revolutionise the sector in the home of advanced manufacturing, Sunderland.

The Terberg YT202 (EV Model) – a fully electric yard tractor designed for moving trailers in distribution centres, transport depots and container terminals – was procured by the North East Automotive Alliance (NEAA) for the 5G CAL project. It has been retrofitted by StreetDrone with drive by wire components and myriad sensors and cameras (both standard and LiDAR).

Following further tests and a rigorous simulation study, the autonomous and teleoperation trials of the Terberg YT202 can now take place. This will involve scaling up the original trial route to incorporate numerous, typical driving challenges such as roundabouts, security gates, traffic lights, bridges and junctions – all key tests to accelerate the development of an advanced autonomous system and to help scale deployment.

Whilst recently attending Cenex, the UK’s premier low carbon vehicle event, the Sunderland’s 5G CAL project team showcased the new Terberg YT202. The fully electric drive means the vehicle is economical to operate and does not lead to emissions at the point of use, plus the electric motor is quieter and requires much less maintenance than a diesel engine.

Alisdair Couper, Managing Director at Terberg DTS UK, said: “Having the vision to look to the future and to what it may offer is allowing us to leverage the benefits that smart technology can bring to the Sunderland region and further afield. The 5G Cal project will become a measuring point for many a future development in this sector.”

Sunderland Council’s Chief Executive, Patrick Melia, said: “5G CAL’s partnership with Terberg is yet another encouraging milestone in the Sunderland Our Smart City success story and in particular, our pioneering 5G CAL project.

“We look forward to working closely with Alisdair and his team, alongside other 5G CAL project partners, to push boundaries, generate efficiencies and implement these learnings widely to benefit a wide range of businesses.”

Paul Butler, CEO of the North East Automotive Alliance, added: “This is a significant step towards an autonomous supply chain. First this will allow for such a vehicle to be teleoperated remotely, paving the way for autonomous supply chains on a much larger scale. This has huge implications across a number of sectors in addition to automotive manufacturers, creating operational efficiencies and improving productivity.”

Terberg DTS (UK) Ltd is a UK subsidiary of the Royal Terberg Group. It is the market leading supplier of specialist vehicles, equipment and support to the UK logistics, distribution, port, industrial, aviation, fire and rescue, road and rail applications. Terberg is now actively working with partners in the teleoperation space to create a production model that is enabled for teleoperation as standard.

OT Group opens new centralised hub

Posted on 22 October, 2021 by Keith McKinley

National business supplies and services provider, OT Group – which includes the OfficeTeam, Office Depot UK & Ireland, Zen Office, and Spicers Ireland brands – has relocated to its new headquarters in Ashton-under-Lyne.

The move comes as a result of the completion of OT Group’s acquisition of parts of Office Depot UK & Ireland’s contract arm earlier this year, which is already based at the location. Further significant investment is intended for the 275,000 sq ft site, with plans to bring up to 200 new jobs into the local area.

The move will enable the business to provide a higher quality service to its customers – with the facility having the capacity to hold over 22,000 products and, using sophisticated picking technologies, achieves a 99.8% order accuracy rate.

Previously located at its central distribution centre in Birmingham, the facility will provide greater stability for OT Group’s customers through improved distribution capabilities, at a time when supply chain turbulence is at an all-time high.

Andrew Jones, CEO of OT Group, commented: “We’re thrilled to be based in Ashton-under-Lyne – the area has so much to offer, and the site is more fitting with our long-term strategy thanks to its industry-leading technology and experienced team.

“It also serves to showcase the rapid growth the Group is undertaking – and evidences where we are innovating within our industry and leading within the market, while still providing the reliability our customers need.

“And, with a ‘local first’ recruitment policy in place, we’re excited to be looking to the talent pool of Ashton-under-Lyne and the wider Manchester area to fill any newly created positions.”

The Ashton-under-Lyne facility houses advanced warehousing and distribution centre technologies, meaning that OT Group will be able to provide an even more efficient, competitive, and responsive service to its customers as it continues with its rapid growth plans.

The launch of the new flagship site coincides with the acquired parts of Office Depot UK & Ireland business’ full integration into the OT Group, where it began trading under the new Group umbrella on 27th September 2021.

Plans Approved for 670,000 sq.ft. UK Distribution Centre

Posted on 1 February, 2021 by Keith McKinley

Plans have been unanimously approved for a new state-of-the-art national storage and distribution centre in Staffordshire on behalf of a UK leading pet care business, Pets at Home.

Stoford Developments will deliver a purpose-built warehouse unit on a 52-acre site at Stafford North Business Park, close to Jct 14 of the M6. The development will deliver a gross internal floor area of 670,000 sq ft, and also offers an additional 100,000 sq ft of expansion land available if required.

Pets at Home has signed a 20-year conditional agreement for lease on the development, which is expected to employ more than 800 people and will open in 2022.

Stoford Joint Managing Director, Dan Gallagher, said: “We’re very pleased to have received unanimous approval for the development of this exciting scheme. We have worked closely with Pets at Home to deliver a modern, first-class design for the distribution centre. It has the potential to become one of Staffordshire’s key employment sites. This development will bring £120 million of investment into the borough and will make a valuable contribution in sustaining jobs in the region.”

Stoford has a successful track record of major development and regeneration projects spanning industrial and distribution warehousing sites, production plants, business parks, offices, retail schemes and hotels. The award-winning developer has completed commercial developments of more than 14 million sq ft with a value of over £1 billion.

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New Machines Delivered to The Port of Liverpool

Posted on 5 November, 2020 by Keith McKinley

The Port of Liverpool has taken first delivery of two new cutting edge shovel loaders.The new JCB 457 loading shovels are the latest JCB built machines from Briggs Equipment and include cutting edge machine technology. The new machines have been selected and specified with additional safety features including: hi-visibility hand rails, Ardent Vehicle Fire Protection, Camera System, Illuminating Chevrons and Tier 5 engine technology, reducing harmful emissions by eliminating ultra-fine particles of soot in diesel exhaust known as sub-micron level particles. This is extremely important and in alignment with Peel Ports clean air quality strategy.

A further four new machines will be delivered over the coming weeks which will include another two JCB 457 and two JCB 437 loading shovels.

The new equipment will be used across the bulk terminals at Mersey, specifically the AFS and Merlin General Bulk Stores, and will allow the port to continue to provide its customers with a reliable and competitive service.

Phil Hall, Port Director (Liverpool), Peel Ports said: “The addition of these cutting edge machines have been well received by the team. They are highly reliable pieces of equipment which will further enable us to deliver our customer needs more efficiently due to an increased cubic capacity bucket.

Customer service first

“We have a great working relationship with Briggs Equipment who are our strategic wheeled asset partners. They have a strong track record for safety and customer service. Putting our customer service first is paramount to Peel Ports, this investment will minimise machine down time supporting our operational capability to customer service satisfaction”.

Tony Worrall, National Account Manager, Briggs Equipment, said: “We are delighted to have completed this latest delivery of JCB equipment to Peel Ports.

“We have worked closely with Peel Ports to understand their specific requirements and the solution that we’ve delivered ticks every box. The fast-paced working environment at the Port demands equipment that is strong, reliable and suited to high-intensity workloads and these new machines will provide exactly that.

“The additional safety features were a key requirement for Peel Ports and the new Tier 5 engine technology demonstrates their clear commitment towards sustainability in their work.

“We’re looking forward to continuing our work with Peel Ports and seeing the positive impact that these new machines will have on all aspects of their operations.”

Fen-Bay Announces Transdek Acquisition

Posted on 29 October, 2020 by Keith McKinley

The acquisition of Transdek by UK company Fen-Bay has been announced. Fen-Bay is a provider of loading bay equipment, industrial doors, gates and barriers.

The Transdek acquisition will see the two companies work together under the Fen-Bay Group umbrella. The move is set to generate a combined workforce of 180 employees as well as a £20 million turnover. The group intends to increase its UK manufacturing base. It is also commited to strong sustained growth with other potential acquisitions in the future.

Transdek was founded in 1997. The company is an innovator in the logistics sector and has grown a strong reputation over the years. The company manufactures a range of surface-mounted, modular loading bay equipment. Its customers include some of the UK’s leading retailers.

The company’s production plant is in South Yorkshire. A three-time winner of the Queens Award for Enterprise, the organisation’s notable development work includes a range of rapid-install double deck lifts, which are designed to load high-capacity fixed double deck trailers. The company also offers vehicle-to-ground (V2G) lifts for loading vehicles at level-access sites.

Fen-Bay Group Managing Director Carl Sedlan says, “We see the acquisition of Transdek as a perfect fit for our range of products and services. We have seen significant growth in the scissor lift and dock leveller markets over the past years. Together with Transdek’s modular lifts and loading systems, we’ll now provide a total product and service portfolio for the industry.

“We were attracted to Transdek’s engineering and innovation capabilities, which dovetail with Fen-Bay’s strength in servicing and project management. We have also built a reputation as a market-leader in 24/7 maintenance thanks to our nationwide network of 60 Fen-Bay service engineers and investment in the latest servicing technology. This superb resource will also support Transdek’s products and customers as we move forwards.”

Leon Butler, Managing Director at Transdek, comments, “There are great synergies between the two companies. We’ve both developed excellent customer relations over the years. We have a major focus on providing the best products, services and after sales support for each unique application. The combination of Fen-Bay’s product portfolio, alongside Transdek’s modular lifts, means we can offer a one-stop shop, which will add value to our customers’ operations.”

Customer service first

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