Wind of change sweeps grain trade at port

The new facility will be used to store dry bulk products including wheat, barley, beans, rice and maize.

The first shipment saw ABP's operations team unload 3,250 tonnes of maize from the Wilson Brake into the warehouse.

Mike Sellers, deputy manager of the ports of Hull and Goole, said: "This investment further demonstrates the range of services that we can provide to our customers and I am very pleased with the performance of our operations team which discharged this first shipment for Frontier Agriculture."

ABP has 21 ports in England, Scotland and Wales including Hull, Goole and Immingham.

Anthony Whitaker, import trader for Frontier Agriculture, said: "This new terminal will allow us to grow the business and improve our service to better meet the needs of end customers and farmers.

"As there is a move towards bioethanol production in the north of England, we will see less wheat exported in the future. However, we still have a healthy export market in other grains and FIT will also be very busy importing grain for millers and the animal feed industry."

Frontier Agriculture will supply wheat to a new 200m biofuels plant at Saltend near Hull. The Vivergo plant, a joint venture between BP, British Sugar and DuPont, will make biofuels for use in transport fuels from next year and will require a year round supply of wheat. It wants to source grain from within a 70-80 mile radius of the plant.

ABP is Britain's largest ports group handling a quarter of the UK's seaborne trade and employing 2,000 staff across the business.

The port estates owned by ABP cover 12,000 acres of land and seabed across the UK. ABP also owns 49 per cent of DP World Southampton and 33 per cent of Tilbury Container Services.