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Manchester’s Esprit finds space solution close at hand

[ January 14, 2019   //   Chris ]

Esprit Warehousing & Docks has opened more warehousing at Trafford Park, Manchester.
No.1 Trafford Park provides an additional 62,000sq ft of capacity for ambient food grade and non-food grade products, bulk or palletised.
Managing director Graham Dixon says that there had been strong demand for space at Esprit’s nearby Trafford Docks site, which opened in 2015 and has been full for the last 18 months.
However, he adds: “Economically viable sites, large enough for commercial warehousing in and around Manchester are scarce. It took us several months to find this site which has been completely refurbished to an exceptionally high standard.”
He says that the location of the new warehouse, only a minute from the existing site and two minutes from the motorway means that existing customers can expand “without feeling their goods are in two different locations”.
Inbound or outbound goods via the ship canal can be stored at either site, says Dixon.
Esprit has invested £250,000 in the new site which can cater for bulk or palletised goods. Dixon explains: “it’s a big decision investing a significant sum into the site before we have confirmed storage contracts. However, customers don’t want to wait 3-4 months for us to install grain walls & bring in machinery to handle their goods. Demand tends to be almost immediate…Having two warehouses on the same site allows us this flexibility, one ready for bulk goods and the other ready for palletised goods.”
Esprit Warehousing & Docks, part of the Esprit Trading Group, is meanwhile calling on more businesses to consider using the Ship Canal. Dixon says: “Since reopening Trafford Docks in 2015 we’ve seen some large project cargo from Europe and beyond using our berth for unloading and onward transport. A lot more can be done though, this is an amazing asset for Manchester and the UK, allowing us to take thousands of trucks and vans off the roads by moving freight on the canal – yet uptake is disappointingly slow.
“Businesses and leaders still default to road transport when planning. Waste, building materials and many other goods, often including parcels, tend not to be time sensitive, are bulky and therefore ideal candidates for canal freight. Ships are probably more reliable than trucks. In four years, I’ve never had a vessel delayed due to congestion.”

Tags: Esprit