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 | | BRITISH GYPSUM SIGNS £16MILLION RAIL CONTRACT | | | British Gypsum | | 20/06/2008 | | | British Gypsum has signed a contract with rail freight specialist, First GBRf, for delivery of gypsum to its manufacturing plants at Kirkby Thore, East Leake and Robertsbridge. The contact is expected to be worth more than £16million over the next 5 years.
The contract will mean that around 80% of all raw material gypsum deliveries for the company’s UK operations have now been moved from road to rail, bringing significant environmental benefits through reduced vehicle-based carbon dioxide emissions.
This latest move follows a similar contract signed last year with Direct Rail Services and freight specialists W.H. Malcolm Logistics Services, for delivery of finished products from the Kirkby Thore plant to customers in Scotland, which removed an estimated 1.76 million lorry miles per year from the road network.
Mike Chaldecott, Managing Director of British Gypsum, said, “As well as reducing road congestion and providing a more reliable service, rail-based deliveries generate around 80% less carbon dioxide emissions per tonne delivered, than equivalent road transport. Moving our deliveries, wherever possible, from road to rail is therefore a key objective of our corporate sustainability strategy. I am pleased that, with the support of our rail partners, we have been able to achieve a major shift over such a relatively short time frame.”
The new contract extends and expands existing arrangements with First GBRf, which now include desulphogypsum deliveries from West Burton, as well as Fiddlers Ferry and Rugely power stations, coal-fired stations which are currently being converted to produce the high grade gypsum as a by product of new flue gas desulphurisation facilities.
“The new contract has been structured to provide greater cost transparency, and to accommodate the inevitable fluctuations in raw material demand and supply”, says
Kevin Flinton, one of British Gypsum’s negotiating team. “The innovative approach is part of our new sustainable procurement strategy. It will help to remove inefficiencies and reduce costs for both British Gypsum and First GBRf, and opens the door to a more collaborative trading relationship between our companies.”
The contract will be serviced using the latest Class 66 locomotives, specially modified for low emissions, which will deliver additional environmental benefits. Three new locomotives have been added to the First GBRf fleet specifically to service the new contract, with the first of these providing a backdrop for the contract signing ceremony which took place at British Gypsum’s East Leake site on 20th June 2008. | |
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