News & Press

A Fresh Train of Thought for G's

20 November 2009

G's Marketing have teamed up with the new Stobart Rail refrigerated train service to speed up deliveries to the UK of fresh produce grown on their farms near Valencia in Spain, while making significant savings on carbon emissions.

The first low-carbon train set off from Valencia on Tuesday 27th October and arrived on time at the Dagenham railhead just after midnight on Friday 30th, after a 1,100 mile journey via the Channel Tunnel. By Friday afternoon the two G's containers were being unloaded at their Barway distribution centre near Ely in Cambridgeshire.

G's will be taking 2 containers of the total of 30 per trip. The train innovation saves 1 tonne of CO2 emissions per container on the road equivalent of the journey, and by December G's expect to be using the service for 3 trips a week to bring fresh salads for their UK supermarket customers.

The service is also six hours faster than the average road time, which benefits the products' shelf life. On the return journey to Spain the train will be loaded with empty pallets and trays, so no trip will be wasted.

Historical note: In August 1994 a G's lorry carried the first-ever shipment of UK fresh produce to be exported to continental Europe via the Channel Tunnel when it opened for freight traffic.