Grimsby, UK: HSH Coldstores has been awarded a £5m government grant as part of the Seafood Infrastructure Fund.
The grant is to support the construction of a new £30m cold store and distribution hub to support the seafood industry in Grimsby.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said its cash injection came from a £20m fund to help the UK fishing industry and would create more than 60 new jobs in the town.
Fisheries Minister Mark Spencer said a further £2m was also being offered to Grimsby to be allocated to other projects.
HSH Cold Stores said the money would help secure Grimsby’s position for “fish and seafood trading and processing within the UK” and prevent the sector from moving overseas.
Local cold store capacity in Grimsby is close to being fully utilised, and this has created a bottleneck for the local seafood processing industry’s growth.
Henry Pringle, chief operating officer, Constellation Cold Logistics, HSH’s parent company, said the organisation was “crying out for this new capacity and funding”.
“The fishing boats don’t come here as often as they used to,” he said. Grimsby “really is still still the centre of fish and seafood trading and processing within the UK”, Pringle said.
The new coldstore will store around 30,000 pallets, providing growth and increasing competitiveness for the local seafood processing sector. The site will also provide single pallet distribution in the UK, which supports small businesses.
The new cold store will use a third less energy compared to other coldstores in Grimsby, achieve Breeam Very Good standard and where possible make use of local suppliers during construction.
