CHEP OPENS NEW PALLET
SERVICE CENTRE IN PETERHEAD
CHEP, the world’s leading provider of pallet and container pooling solutions, is pleased to announce the opening of a new pallet service centre facility at its existing Peterhead site in north-east Scotland.
CHEP is expanding the site, from which it continues to operate its Fish Box business in support of the Scottish fishing industry, to enable the inspection, repair and reissue of pallets to its customer base in the north of Scotland and the Northern and Western Isles.
Previously, CHEP has served this region from its service centre at Grangemouth near Glasgow, more than 150 miles south of Peterhead. The Grangemouth facility will continue to serve the remainder of Scotland.
CHEP Managing Director, UK & Ireland, Howard Wigham, said: “This is an exciting development for the Peterhead team and our Scottish pallet customers as it will offer employment opportunities and improved service levels. This expansion is going to significantly reduce truck miles for CHEP in Scotland, leading to increased efficiencies for our customers while reducing our CO2 footprint.”
CHEP’s expansion of this facility is in direct response to feedback from customers that have previously had to take delivery of large stocks of pallets because of the remoteness of their location. The expansion will mean these customers will experience an improved, more flexible service with more regular deliveries in smaller quantities.
The new location will also make a considerable reduction in miles travelled by CHEP delivery vehicles, saving in the region of 70 tonnes of CO2 emissions every year.
David Morgan, who joined CHEP’s Peterhead-based Fish Box business as General Manager in October 2010 after 30 years as a successful trawler skipper and owner, will manage the service centre. Mr Morgan said: “We started making our first pallet deliveries from the expanded facility in the first weeks of January and we’re anticipating repairing approximately 50,000 CHEP standard 1200 x 1000 mm pallets a year while inspecting and delivering up to 100,000 pallets.”
Mr Wigham said: “CHEP is all about helping our customers to store, protect and move their products through the supply chain in a cost-effective, safe and environmentally sound way. The expansion of this facility reinforces this commitment to building leaner and greener supply chains, and I’m looking forward to our customers seeing the benefit.”
CHEP’s Fish Box business, which has been operating in Scotland for more than 22 years employing more than 20 people, will continue to operate alongside the new pallet service centre at the expanded facility in Peterhead, where it conducts close to 1 million movements per annum, supporting more than 150 trawlers and merchants across the Scottish fishing industry.
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