Cold storage and distribution company Yearsley has plans for three more regional depots across the country following the completion of a new £14m facility at Seaham in County Durham.
The new depots will be located at Glasgow and Bristol with another on the A1 mid-way between its Coleshill, Birmingham and Gillingham, Kent sites.
The company's regional "networked" cold store strategy is in keeping with pressure to reduce food miles. It will also help it comply with the working time directive which restricts drivers' hours.
Phase 1 of the Seaham site has cold and chilled storage for 11,000 pallets and was completed last month. Phase 2, which will double capacity, is scheduled for completion in October. However, there is room to expand to 33,000 pallet spaces. The project received a £1m regional selective assistance grant, because of the 70 new jobs.
Seaham is the fifth depot built for Yearsley, which claims a 10% share of the UK's cold storage capacity. Its other main store is at Heywood, Lancashire, with another at Rochdale.
Over the past five years the company has spent more than £50m on new facilities. "We have invested a lot of money to build a network -- a lot like a chilled distribution network -- which nobody does in frozen," said the business development manager Tim Moran. As a result, the company had won market share.