Yearsley begins second phase of cold store expansion

Frozen food distributor Yearsley Logistics has begun the second phase of a £5M three-part expansion next to the group’s headquarters in Heywood in Greater Manchester less than a year after opening its new cold store.

Policy makers, consumers and food manufacturers risk losing focus on the need to cut levels of fat in the nation’s diet, following the publication of a scientific report, which called for sugar consumption to be halved to cut rising obesity levels, experts in the field have warned.

The new phase for the cold storage, ambient, chilled and freight forwarding specialist will provide an additional 4,645m2 of space which provides 12,000 extra pallet sites and takes the total to 60,000 pallets at the ‘superhub’.

Paying dividends

“Our commitment to offering a day one for day two service is paying dividends with increased demand for our services and for space in the cold stores,” said Yearsley Logistics director Tim Moran.

As with the previous building, the new facility is super insulated to help reduce energy use. Solar panels and LED lighting will also be fitted as Yearsley continues to focus on reducing electricity use by 8% by 2015.

Half of the new cold store will be fitted with the Power Automated Systems’ (PAS’s) Powerstor automated racking system following its successful use in the initial phase. The remainder will be conventional mobile racking. The PAS system helps to speed up the customer ordering process and improves productivity, as well as having environmental benefits.

The third and final phase at the superhub will be fitted out as and when required, according to future customer demand, said the firm.

£20M

Yearsley has 13 depots across the UK, with capacity of 347,000 pallet storage spaces and a 300-strong fleet of temperature controlled vehicles. As well as its Heywood superhub consolidation centre, Yearsley has acquired another at Hams Hall in the West Midlands, which all forms part of a £20M investment.

Yearsley Group also has a food division, which is made up of Yearsley Food Sales, Belfield and IcePak. Between them, they wholesale more than 1,500 frozen product lines. It has more than 1,200 employees and an annual turnover of £156M.