AV Dawson one of Teesside’s leading logistics companies has expressed its confidence in the future as it celebrates a successful first year of operation for its state of the art, automotive steel distribution centre.
AV Dawson, a company with its roots firmly grounded in Middlesbrough, launched its award-winning, £6.5m facility last November, to support the ever increasing supply of steel coil into car giant Nissan in Sunderland.
Operating under a tighter quality and service level control than ever before, the 102,263 square foot warehouse provides the perfect heat and humidity controlled base for the storage of steel components. It is the first building of its scale to utilise ground source heat pumps and intelligent lighting; remaining sensitive to the environment and limiting its carbon footprint.
Gary Dawson, AV Dawson Managing Director feels that the success of the pioneering new facility leaves him confident about the future. He said:
“With the recent media announcements you could be forgiven for thinking the whole UK steel industry was on its knees. However, the requirement for steel coil used to produce cars is very much in demand.
“We remain confident in the strength of Teesside and its future, based on the North East’s credentials as a burgeoning European hub for the automotive sector. From the production of vehicles for Nissan and the opportunities that the Hitachi plant brings to the supply chain companies that surround Teesport, as well as the pledge for the creation of 250 jobs on Teesside through Nifco; the future is looking really positive.
“Our industry has seen substantial developments over the last year and the major investment we have made in our facilities at AV Dawson put us right at the heart of this, bringing more innovation and increased efficiencies to the industry.”
Gary continued:
“We can utilise 100% of the clean energy that our steel store generates, which has resulted in vast energy savings in the first year and we anticipate in excess of £800,000 savings over the next 20 years. Around 100 tonnes of CO2 is being saved every year – that’s the equivalent of driving an average family sized car 250,000 miles each year for the next 20 years.”
Operating a combined site terminal of 100 acres, with around 240 staff, AV Dawson is a truly multimodal logistics provider. Plans going forward are to widen its involvement in the renewables and waste to energy markets, resulting in further growth in business which will in turn shape an equally positive future.