16-03-2004
Peel plans to make Salford the North West distribution capital

Peel Holdings have announced dramatic new plans to bring more shipping back to Salford at Port Salford, a multi-modal freight terminal at Barton, 5 miles to the west of Manchester City Centre. The Company believes the rail served quayside facility has the potential to become the North West’s distribution hub.

The 200 acre vacant brownfield site has been earmarked by the City of Salford for employment development for a number of years. Peel’s plans for this could realise the Council’s dream, directly up to 2,100 people and many more thousands created indirectly, providing a massive boost to the local economy.

Port Salford would be a truly multi-modal facility. It has excellent road links to the M62 and M6. It would be connected to the strategic Trans-Pennine railway earmarked for improvement to W10/W12 gauge and linking Liverpool and the West Coast Main Line with Hull. The availability of the neighbouring Manchester Ship Canal brings an extra dimension.

Peel’s aim is to bring larger ships into the heart of the region and approximately 300,000 containers a year would be handled at Port Salford, with around 50,000 arriving by ship.

Peel’s subsidiary, Clydeport already operate short sea feeder services linking Glasgow with south coast and European container ports and these will be extended to Port Salford, providing a third option for distribution companies to access their premises or reach their markets. From next month a container service will be introduced at Irlam on a trial basis.

Mike Butterworth of Peel Holdings said:“Salford Docks and the Ship Canal were once at the heart of the region’s economy. This plan will revitalise the Canal and once again make Salford the distribution capital of the North West”.

for more information please contact:
Alison Tennant
Peel Holdings

Tel: 0161 629 8229

Email: atennant@peel.co.uk