The UK’s biggest single shipment of grain is now loading at the Port of Immingham on the east coast, which is set to move 70,000 tonnes of feed wheat from UK growers across Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, to Vietnam in Asia Pacific.
With the trade fulfilled by Glencore Grain UK, it will have taken the crop yield from some 18,000 acres (7333 ha) and transported by over 2500 lorry loads to complete loading of the 229 metre vessel, mv Trade Prosperity.
When she sets sail in early July, the journey should take Trade Prosperity around 34 days to cover the 12,370 nautical miles to Vietnam, via the Cape of Good Hope, at an average speed of 15 knots.
Announcing the start of loading, Glencore Grain UK Managing Director, James Maw, said: “The scale of this record-breaking export exemplifies the importance of access to world trade for UK growers.
“It highlights the essential role of contacts and experience offered by the global Glencore Agricultural products division in successfully negotiating the business half-way around the world, and then the immense logistics of physically delivering the supply of grain from UK farms.”
Glencore farm trader for Yorkshire and South Humberside, Julian Dunning, added: “After the huge harvest of 2015 it has been imperative to move large stocks of grain, before the new crop comes in this summer. This trade will have had a significant impact in underpinning all important crop values for the new season.”
He reported that with the vast scale of this shipment, the company have had to work with a large numbers of farmers to co-ordinate and move the required volume of wheat. “We are fortunate to have so many extremely professional growers who understand the demands and have helped to achieve the loading, along with an excellent port facility at Immingham, operated by ABP, with the capability to manage such an immense shipment.”
Hitherto, the biggest single shipment of grain from the UK is believed to have been 66,000 tonnes, with most port capabilities limited to around 50,000 tonnes by loading facilities and deep water access.
