Communications and Logistics - Furness offers a location with Good Access to Markets
Furness has good road, rail, sea and air transport links and telecommunications.
The A590 trunk road runs from the M6 junction 36 to the Furness area. The journey time to Barrow from the M6 is around 40 minutes. The M6 /M74 motorway provides the west side of Britain with its main arterial road link. With a branch (M62) across to the east coast.
Most raw materials and finished goods are transported by road into or out of Furness. The A590 trunk road (managed by the Highways Agency) is a designated national high/wide/large load route linking the port of Barrow to the national highway network at Junction 36 of the M6 motorway. Recent large load involved movements include a 250tonne generator bound for a new power station at Lockerbie Scotland delivered on Saturday 28th April 2007.
Highly efficient road transport enables companies based in Furness to achieve high customer service level. For example Robert McBride who supply detergents to leading UK superstores, achieve 99.9%. customer service levels. Kimberly-Clark move thousands of tonnes of tissue products nationwide from their Barrow Mill, one of their most efficient operating sites in the whole of Europe.
Road Hauliers, locally based in Furness include:
Courier Services include:
Air Links - International: Manchester International Airport
Manchester International Airport is the world's gateway into Furness and the north west of England, scheduled services serve 64 cities. It has the largest airport outside of London, handling 18 million passengers each year, and over 112,000 tonnes of freight through 3 terminals. Flights out of Manchester for business users allow, if required, same day business travel variety of destinations including:
Amsterdam
Copenhagen
Dublin
Dusseldorf
Frankfurt
Hamburg
Milan
Air Freight
Manchester International Airport is the 'gateway' to the world for Furness based companies. By road the airport is about 2 hours drive south of Barrow. The airport has rail services running 24 hours a day. Manchester International Airport handles over 112,000 tonnes of airfreight annually.
Alternatives to Manchester Airport include Glasgow Airport , Leeds or Bradford Airport, Blackpool and Liverpool. Carlisle also has a small airport
Air Links - Local: Walney Airport:
Tel: 01229 471407, call sign EGNL
At Barrow, Walney Airport, owned and operated by BAE SYSTEMS may be used by small fixed wing business aircraft or by helicopters for speedy communications.
Jet A1 fuelling facilities are available by arrangement with the airport operators.
A modern Instrument Landing System (ILS) is in Operation Logistics – moving products of all sizes
Sea Links
Email barrow@abports.co.uk
The port of Barrow is operated by Associated British Ports. It is able to handle ships, barges and submarines of the following sizes within the enclosed docks:
Length - 230 m
Beam - 36 m
Draught - 10 m
Larger vessels can be docked at the deepwater berth.
Heavy lift capability at the quayside is 1,000 tonnes .A floating crane BAE Conveyor can lift 200 tonnes.
Two roll-on/roll-off facilities at the port can be used to handle loads of 740 tonnes.
A 7000m2 warehouse is available to lease.
Currently the main cargoes handled include:
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Condensate;
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Heavy fuel oil and bulk liquids;
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Irradiated nuclear fuel;
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Dry bulks such as limestone and wood pulp;
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Deavy engineering goods;
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Fabrications destined for Barrow Shipyard;
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Offshore oil and gas supplies
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Specialist cargoes.
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Cruise ships also call at the port from time to time.
The port has a railhead and helipad and bunkering facility, tugs can be chartered in.
There is a regular local ferry from Roa to Piel Island.
The largest covered shipbuilding hall and ship lift in the U.K. are located in the enclosed dock system and are operated by BAE SYSTEMS Submarine Solutions.
One of the UK's leading ship operators James Fisher & Sons plc
Almost all the industrial sites in Barrow are within 3 miles of the port.
Rail Freight
Currently the main rail freight services operating in and out of Furness convey
- Irradiated nuclear fuel flasks
- Fuel Oil
Freight Forwarding Contractors include:
James Fisher & Sons plc
Stobart Transport
M E Saunders & Sons Transport Tel 01229 861260
TDG Logistics
Rail Freight Web links are:
Direct Rail Services
English Welsh Scottish Railway
Rail - Passenger Services
There are hourly rail passenger services from Barrow to Lancaster, Preston and Manchester. A regular service operates to Manchester International Airport connecting services to Oxenholme (Kendal) or Lancaster/Preston. This gives access within hours to Glasgow/Edinburgh and 3 to 3½ hours to London. See Logistics for rail freight
Bus and Coach Links - Travelline 0870 608 2608
Stagecoach's Cumberland Motor Services operate local bus services throughout Furness and Cumbria. Express services link Barrow to Kendal: X35.
Coach firms include:
Clarkson's Coachways, Sproats, Travellers Choice, Lecks
Global Telecommunications
Broadband telecommunication services are available through two operators:
Your Communications (YC) Your Communications operate by wireless broadband networks
BT
Statistics suggest there is a greater usage of IT in Barrow than in larger towns and cities of the north west of England such as Preston.
