Grimsby fish delivery company acquired by logistics giant

Colley Brothers Ltd., a Grimsby, United Kingdom-based fish delivery firm, has been bought by the Copenhagen, Denmark-based ferry and logistics company DFDS, adding to the transport services it already provides to the U.K. seafood industry.

Colley Brothers was established in 2006 by David and Peter Colley, who will continue to manage the company moving forward. It employs 45 staff, most of who are van drivers, and operates 30 temperature-controlled vans.

“The acquisition will create a greatly enhanced joint operation in Grimsby where we will be able to consolidate Colley Brothers with the existing DFDS operations. We will broaden the range of services offered to the seafood industry and be able to meet even more of the specific needs of our customers,” Eddie Green, DFDS’s head of cold chain business, said. “David and Peter Colley will remain with the business and we are looking forward to working together to build a stronger more diverse operation.”

Established in 1866, DFDS operates through a network of European ports and offices and employs around 8,000 staff.

The company’s largest fresh and frozen coldstore is in Grimsby. This facility has a capacity of 11,000 pallets, with more than 50,000 metric tons (MT) of salmon passing through it every year.

As such, DFDS is one of the largest transport services providers to the Scottish salmon industry.

Earlier this week, DFDS announced that its outlook for 2020 had been suspended due to further restrictions on intra-European travel and general lock-down measures across Europe. It said that freight activity in the opening months of the year had been in line with expectations, but had started to decrease as manufacturing plants suspend operations and demand in general is impacted by the lockdowns.

Contingency planning to mitigate effects of changes in demand and operations for both ferry and logistics activities is ongoing across the DFDS network, it said.  

Photo courtesy of DFDS

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