HelioSlough has revealed plans to develop the UK’s first inland port in Rossington, Doncaster.
The developer has submitted a planning application for a £350m scheme including 6m sq ft of rail-linked warehouses on a site near J3 of the M18.
Despite being more than 40 miles from the coast, the Strategic Rail Freight Interchange will have customs facilities and bonded warehouses on site, meaning it is officially classified as a port.
Operated and jointly funded by Hutchinson Ports, it will receive containers by rail from Hutchinson’s Port of Felixstowe in Suffolk, the UK’s largest container port.
The scheme is in line with government policy to transfer freight to rail and is projected to save 426,000 tonnes of CO2 per year by reducing road freight.
The port is expected to be open by 2011, subject to planning.
