Rail Freight Terminal

Workington has a Rail Freight Terminal, operated by the port for English, Welsh and Scottish Railway (EWSR). The facility handles both bulk and container freight.

One of the principal customers for the facility is Iggesund Paperboard, which now transports a substantial proportion of the raw material for its local paper mill by rail - as part of its environmental policy. Cargoes moved by rail for Iggesund include pulp, calcium carbonate and timber, amounting to some 75,000 tonnes per year the equivalent of 2,000 lorry loads taken off the roads.

Another local company keen to use environmentally friendly forms of transport is Voridian Polymers Limited. In late 1997, Voridian awarded a contract to container operators Hoyer UK Limited for the transport of containerised raw materials from Rotterdam to Voridian's plants in Hartlepool and Workington. Hoyer now uses the port's rail facility for receiving and storing containers, which are delivered to the nearby factory by road.

The terminal is equipped with a 41 tonne reachstacker, able to stack boxes 4 high and has a stacking area for over 1,000 boxes with room for expansion. The port provides a 24-hour service in order to meet JIT delivery requirements by Voridian, and has the flexibility to handle less than full train loads. The rail freight container terminal is now handling a significant number of boxes, making an important contribution to reducing road congestion. The port and EWSR are marketing the facility strongly and are looking at the possibility of expanding the service.