CWT Commodities, a cocoa and coffee bean importer, has announced plans to build a new warehouse at the Port of Liverpool.
Their plans include more jobs for those in the local area, aiding in growing and expanding their supply chain.
Construction underway
Construction has already begun on the new warehouse and office complex. Situated on land leased from Peel Ports, the warehouse measures 3,344m2 and joins eight others already present on the site. It is expected to be completed later in 2018.
CWT Commodities was established in 1983 and specialises in warehouse management services of both soft and hard commodities. Cocoa beans and coffee beans are just a couple of the commodities that they deal with, but they represent a large percentage of their business in the UK. Their services include storage and handling, weighing and sampling, quality control and inspection, brushing, cleaning, bagging, pre-shipment inspection and cleaning, transport, and distribution.
In this case, the company will ship coffee and cocoa beans to the UK, and then distribute them to factories around Liverpool which require the raw materials for their product lines, taking in their other services along the way to ensure that everything goes smoothly across the supply chain.
Jason Cross is the director of CWT Commodities UK. He explained that the Port of Liverpool is strategically placed for the company, as it will help them to reduce inland transport costs and also reduce their supply chain’s carbon footprint as they deliver the products to factories.
“The continued investment we have made in logistical infrastructure such as the warehouses wouldn’t have been possible without the strong partnerships formed over many years with Peel Ports and Mazdon Construction,” he said. “We are excited about the completion of the new facilities and the future growth opportunities this will offer.”
Mazdon managing director Alex Hemming pointed out that the construction firm has also overseen the development of CWT’s other warehouses. “Our successful relationship with CWT over the last 10 years has been founded on our ability to understand their commercial and operational needs, providing them with a bespoke design and build service here in the UK,” he said.
New opportunities await
There will be some new recruitment opportunities as a result of the new opening, although CWT have not yet made it clear how many will be created in the warehouse and in other parts of the supply chain. It is likely that some of the opportunities will include working in the storage facilities, unloading deliveries, loading up and driving trucks, and running the infrastructure.
Peek Ports land and property director Andrew Martin said: “This further investment by CWT reinforces the Port of Liverpool’s premier position as the logistics hub that connects food and drink manufacturing and processing centres across the northern half of the UK.”
Cocoa beans arrive in large quantities in Liverpool throughout the year. Nearly 65,000 tonnes, representing more than two-thirds of the demand in the UK, come in through the port thanks to the nearby factories in Yorkshire and north Wales. Coffee beans are also a popular import through Liverpool, representing a third of the UK’s demand at around 50,000 tonnes.
This means that if you work in the food industry in Liverpool, or in factories in surrounding area, there’s a fair chance that you will come across either coffee or cocoa beans at some point in your working life – or possibly even both.
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