A new £10m automotive hub on the banks of the River Mersey links the Stellantis van factory at Ellesmere Port with a sister plant in Spain via sea, slashing supply chain emissions. Tony McDonough reports

Peel Ports and Spanish logistics specialist Suardiaz have completed a £10m logistics hub on the Mersey for automotive giant Stellantis. 

First revealed by LBN in March, the new hub at Eastham in Wirral will provide a supply chain link via sea between the Stellantis factory in Ellesmere Port and the company’s sister plant in Vigo in Spain.

A twice-weekly shipping route will ferry essential parts between the two locations on a twice-weekly shipping route. The first vessel arrived at the facility this week.

It is estimated that sending parts by sea instead of by road will reduce annual CO2 emissions by 30% and energy consumption by 37%.

An estimated 14,700 lorry journeys will be taken off the roads across the UK and continental Europe annually, saving around 11m miles in road trips.

In September Stellantis started making electric vans at the former Vauxhall Astra factory at Ellesmere Port, marking a new era for the factory.

It will produce 50,000 electric vans a year under the Vauxhall, Opel, Peugeot, Citroën and Fiat badges. It represents a £130m investment in the Cheshire site.

Diane Miller, Ellesmere Port plant director at Stellantis, said: “Following the start of electric vehicle production earlier this year, this is another important milestone for Ellesmere Port.

“It enables us to establish a sustainable supply chain through a new maritime shipping route with our sister plant in Vigo, Spain.”

This new hub is located on a 9.5-acre site at Queen Elizabeth II Dock at Eastham, within Peel Ports’ Mersey cluster.

Peel Ports and Suardíaz invested a combined £10m in recommissioning an existing berth at the dock and installing the infrastructure needed to support the processing of the roll-on roll-off (RoRo) ships and their cargo to develop the hub.

Peel Ports chief executive Claudio Veritiero added: “This new green automotive hub is set to be a gamechanger in cutting supply chain emissions and road congestion in the UK.

“It’s a great example of the forward thinking cooperation that is needed to reduce the impact of the maritime and logistics sectors on the environment.

“We have consistently said that reducing road miles will be central to combating climate change, but we know that can only be achieved by providing sustainable alternatives utilising ports in close proximity to final destinations.”