18 August 2023
Multi-million-pound new road de-icing salt storage facility completed
Peel Ports Clydeport has completed construction of a multi-million-pound de-icing salt storage facility at its King George V dock.
The 5000m2 storage facility will hold a minimum of 40,000 tonnes of road salt and support the maintenance of Scotland’s road networks over coming winters. The project was completed as part of a joint investment from Clydeport owner, Peel Ports Group, and its longstanding customer, Irish Salt Mining Company.
The pair have entered a long-term deal which will facilitate the shipment and storage of de-icing salt to Scotland for years to come and allow it to store higher volumes of road salt than ever before.
The first bulk shipments of salt to the new facility have already been completed, and delivery to its customers took place in July.
Jim McSporran, port director at Peel Ports Clydeport, said: “We’re pleased to have completed construction of our new salt storage facility, which can handle increased volumes of road salt, and will help add essential resilience to the road salt market in Scotland.
"We’ve already received our first shipment of salt to the new shed, and our teams are beginning work to ensure we are ready to support road maintenance across West and Central Scotland this winter.
“We look forward to continuing our strong working relationship with Irish Salt Mining Company on this project, which serves a vital need in Scotland.”
Also known as Salt Sales Co., Irish Salt Mining Company is a key supplier of de-icing rock salt to local authorities across West and Central Scotland, as well as highway maintenance contractors.
The salt will be shipped from Irish Salt Mining’s mine in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland, directly into the Peel Port Clydeport facility at King George V Docks.
Peel Ports Clydeport staff will unload the salt from the ships arriving at the port and either load out lorries for delivery to customers or add the salt to the stockpile shed.
Thanks to the specialist facilities on site, shipments of 7000 tonnes can be discharged in approximately 12 hours.
Irish Salt Mining produces around 500,000 tonnes of de-icing rock salt per annum from its mine in Carrickfergus.