The environmental impact of bulk material transport can be considerably reduced by transferring regular loads from road to rail. Regional distribution depots supplied by rail eliminate the need for long distance road haulage, limiting road transport to short journeys.
Tarmac Buxton Cement, formally BLI Cement, are firmly committed to this environmentally sound policy for their UK operations with rail depots in the South, Midlands and North of England. These depots supply bulk cement customers throughout the country. BLI Cement received full support for this as everyone who travels by road in UK knows that many routes are not merely congested, but actually full. With annual worldwide production of more than 12 million tonnes of bulk material, cost and environmentally efficient distribution are key factors for the international success of the parent Group, whose diverse interests also include gold, diamonds and paper.
More than 300000 tonnes of cement are moved by rail from producer to regional depot, but delivery from the depots in Wallsall, Leeds and most recently London involves only short journeys to customers. The Buxton production centre railhead has also been developed to accommodate state-of-the-art cement handling and distribution equipment, adding to its present roadstone and lime function. Dantherm Filtration has played a significant part providing dust control throughout.
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