Seafood business awarded £5m to help create cold storage facility

A Humber seafood cold storage firm is receiving £5m worth of Government cash as part of a national programme to help the UK’s fishing industry.

Grimsby-based HSH Cold Stores Ltd stores and transports frozen and chilled fish food products. The company wants to expand and modernise its current facility.

A spokesman for the firm explained: “The grant is to support the construction of a new £30m state-of-the-art coldstore and distribution hub to support the seafood industry in Grimsby.

“Local cold store capacity in Grimsby is near fully utilised, and this has created a bottleneck for the local seafood processing industry’s growth.

“The new coldstore will store around 30,000 pallets, opening up opportunity for growth and increasing competitiveness for the local seafood processing sector. The facility will also provide cost-effective single pallet distribution anywhere in the UK, supporting small businesses.”

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said the cash for this business comes from a £20m fund to help the UK fishing industry and would create more than 60 new jobs in the town.

Fisheries Minister Mark Spencer added a further £2m was also being offered to Grimsby to go towards other projects.

He said: “Fishing communities are an important part of the UK’s heritage and they make a valuable contribution to our economy, so we are backing them with funds to boost growth and opportunities across the industry.

“This funding will ensure seafood businesses throughout the supply chain are well-equipped to keep pace with increasing demand at home and abroad, boosting production and sustainability and building a resilient sector for the future.”