A £300,000 investment by PD Ports in the latest robotic technology will open up new supply chain opportunities for animal feed providers in the UK.

The BP600 automated bagging plant with robotic arm and shrink wrapper installed at PD Ports’ Howden port facility, near Goole, East Yorkshire, offers customers importing bulk animal feed the option to transition into the bagged market.

The Port of Howden sits on the River Ouse, 50 miles from the mouth of the Humber and is one of the most inland ports in the UK, with close proximity to the M62 trans-Pennine motorway.

A major shipping and distribution hub for the agribulk market, Howden handles a variety of animal feed and fertiliser products supporting the agriculture and farming markets in East Yorkshire, Humberside, Lincolnshire and beyond.

The new bagging facility at Howden is the most advanced plant of its type operating in the region and can pack powder and granular animal feed into 25kg stitched paper sacks, at eight bags per minute.

Efficiencies in the new plant has seen daily handling figures increase at Howden from 10 tonnes per day to 36 tonnes of the new bags.

The investment by PD Ports is part of a wider strategy for the company to offer an end-to-end supply chain solution for customers, which can include chartering of ships and road haulage.

Roy Merryweather, general manager – business development for PD Ports in East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, said: “This is not a contract backed investment but one made with the aim of securing our position in the market by ensuring our customers have the ability to effectively serve the farming industry with a range of bulk and bagged options.

“Agri-product suppliers now have more options available to them in terms of packaging and distribution and we can help every step of the way, from shipping to haulage.

“The new plant at Howden is also more efficient and can handle much larger tonnages than our previous equipment, making the bagging process smoother and faster, meaning we now have additional capacity to offer to the market.”

The new bagging plant at Howden also supports to PD Ports commitment to worker safety – reducing dust emissions and the removal of manual handling, as the AB IRC5 robotic arm completes all lifting tasks and palletisation.