Celebrating massive new African order
Bentall Rowlands Storage Systems Ltd has won a £6.5-million contract for two sites in the east African country of Malawi.
From the Scunthorpe Telegraph, 18 March 2008:
A Scunthorpe company is celebrating its biggest single order since it came under new ownership four years ago.
Bentall Rowlands Storage Systems Ltd, which is based at the Foxhills Industrial Estate, has won a £6.5-million contract for two sites in the east African country of Malawi, which will be used for the storage of maize.The sites at Mzuzu and Luchenza are for a grain reserve development. Each site will have 20,000 tonnes storage capacity in five silos.
The Scunthorpe company will also provide all the associated handling equipment and carry out all the civil work.
The contract is due to be completed in January, 2009.
Bentall Rowlands Storage Systems, which employs 20 people, will manufacture the silos in kit form, ship them out to Malawi and then assemble and commission them.
The order is the third the company has received from the government of Malawi.
Sales director Rex Hilton said: "We are also working in Ethiopia, Kenya and Nigeria at the moment, providing silos."
Technical director Kevin Groom said: "The home market is also very buoyant this year and we will achieve £2-million-plus turnover in the domestic market in the current year's trading."
This buoyancy is due to high grain prices in the UK.
The last time the company shipped to Malawi it had £400,000 worth of goods involved in the widely-publicised Napoli ship disaster off the south coast last year.
It received some of the equipment involved back, but a new Range Rover included in the cargo was never seen again.
Mr Hilton said: "We are hoping for a smooth voyage this time."
The company is also hoping for further work from the region in Africa in the future.
The business can be contacted on telephone 01724 282828 or email info@bentallrowlands.co.uk
The website is at www.bentallrowlands.com .