Sany reach stackers for Doncaster

The rail terminal - the newest in the UK - is part of a major new logistics park developed by Verdion on the site of a former colliery. Iport can eventually offer up to 6M ft2 (56,000 m2) of warehousing and logistics space.

Just now Amazon is completing a new "fulfilment centre" at Iport and supermarket chain Lidl is investing £70M in a new RDC for completion in 2019. Verdion has already completed a 195,000 ft2 unit with 8000 ft2 of office space and has embarked on further speculative development of a 120,000 ft2 unit and a 60,000 ft2 unit, both slated for completion in Q3 2018.

The rail terminal occupies 35 acres and is designed for trains up to 775m long, with associated formation and train release sidings. At the time of writing, work is under way on a 420m long by 15m side concrete apron able to support reach stacker front axle imposed loads of 115 tonnes.

WorldCargo News has been unable to obtain any information from Verdion, but this clearly means that the reach stackers will be required to handle laden containers on/off wagons at second rail load centres.

The reach stackers from Sany Europe in Germany are required to stack loaded containers up to 4-high and transload containers between wagons and HGVs. Adjacent to the apron is a paved container storage area. The rail terminal has W12 clearance for Channel tunnel trains and is slated to open in early 2018.

As yet no rail freight service provider has announced any services over Iport. 

Freightliner operates Doncaster Railport as a railhead for its deepsea container business over UK ports. Its facility was formerly known as Doncaster International Railport, as it was originally developed to service Channel tunnel trains.

Separately, Cooper SH is to supply Maritime Transport with its second Sany dedicated ECH mast truck, this time for the Manchester depot. Maritime acquired its first Sany ECH for the Leeds depot just over a year ago (WorldCargo News, December 2016, p27).

The machine for Manchester has been purchased outright and features a number of options, including air conditioning, 12 LED spotlights, reverse alarm, external electronic display showing machine data and electric tilting cabin for easy maintenance. Cooper's servicing and maintenance division Cooper Solutions provides support for Maritime's fleet of ECHs and FLTs.

• Elsewhere in the UK, building work is officially underway on the new £6M DB Cargo UK Logistics Centre in Wolverhampton. As previously reported the new centre will increase the site's capabilities to handle and store steel coil from 1,380 to 3,325, which is 40,000 tonnes of steel. Rail freight operator DB Cargo UK transports the coils by rail to the site, where it is then distributed to manufacturers across the West Midlands to produce products such as white goods and cars. The Wolverhampton Logistics Centre is set to open in summer 2018.