Whitchurch haulier completes warehouse in £11m investment
Shropshire transport firm GroContinental has completed the build of its biggest-ever single warehouse as part of an £11 million investment.
The Whitchurch-based company, which employs more than 350 people, has added the 53,000 sq ft chilled warehouse to accommodate existing customers' products, and is expected to be filled to capacity soon.
The new warehouse has enough room for 22,000 more pallets, to bring its total capacity to 165,000 pallet spaces on its 30-acre site.
Meanwhile, the company is also overhauling its fleet of 65 vehicles, and will add 10 new refrigerated trailers by the end of the year.
It is also recruiting an unspecified number of new drivers.
Managing director David Grocott said: "Our business growth strategy is to maintain and build a diverse base of customers in terms of size and across the food industry.
"This wide customer base keeps business risk low and has led to significant growth over recent years.
"Added to this has been our flexibility to offer value-added services such as providing a cheese cutting facility, a fruit and vegetable sorting line including quality control and magnetic screening; and a bread re-packing facility. These additional services have been instrumental in securing business from customers.
"We aim to renew our fleet of vehicles every three to five years to ensure the latest in vehicle technology, economy and reliability."
The company secured a seven-figure funding package from RBS and NatWest to help deliver the latest expansion.
Richard Newman, relationship director for the bank's corporate team, added: "GroContinental has earned a loyal and growing customer base, through providing innovative, high-quality solutions, and understanding customers' requirements ahead of need.
"A passion for putting customers at the heart of their business underpins the GroContinental team's success; an approach we also employ at RBS."
