South Lincolnshire has the largest food logistics cluster in the UK with 30% of all UK food travelling through the area in the supply chain, with over 1 million vehicle movements a year and 1,200 finished truck-loads of food leaving the area every day.

Key capabilities include a highly developed logistics cluster, with specialisms in port services, cool chain storage and distribution, freight forwarding, shipping and warehouse automation.

The logistics cluster is working with the University of Lincoln to deliver world leading digital supply chain technologies.  The supply of low carbon energy from offshore wind farms will allow the South Lincolnshire food cluster to deliver the UK’s most efficient and sustainable food chains.

The Boston Town Deal includes plans to open a Centre for Food and Fresh Produce Logistics focused on logistics training and innovation in 2022.  This centre will build on expertise at NCFM and Boston College’s EMAT (Engineering, Manufacturing and Applied Technologies) Centre, and Digital, Transport and Logistics Academy (DTLA), as well as the Lincolnshire Institute of Technology. This centre will form part of the wider South Lincolnshire food knowledge cluster centred on the South Lincolnshire FEZ.

The Modal Centre on the Humber provides industry focused training for careers in sea freight, port operations or road transport, with state of the art simulators for shipping and cargo handling.

Advanced cold chain capabilities include: large temperature-controlled storage at logistics hubs including: Grimsby 230,000 tonnes of cold storage; Spalding’s 29 Bowman stores owned by Americold; Humberside Airport; and, a new Magnavale site near Grantham which will be the UK’s largest cold store.

Consented sites for future food logistics growth include: three Food Enterprise Zones (FEZs); St Modwen Park (Lincoln); and, Clay Lake (Spalding). Sites with Freeport tax incentives for investing businesses are available on the Humber. Click here to view the Greater Lincolnshire Logistics Opportunity brochure.