Skip to main content

Salt deal ready for winter

PEACOCK SALT has secured a long-term agreement with Rio Tinto's Australian subsidiary Dampier Salt (DSL) to supply solar salt for the UK market.The agreement with the world’s largest salt exporter will see Ayr, Scotland-based Peacock importing in the region of 500,000tonnes of salt/year. Peacock says it currently controls 15% of the UK’s road salt market, supplying to a range of public and private sector clients. Director Angus Craig said the deal with Australia and UK-based Rio Tinto will secure the compan
May 30, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Angus Craig: deal with Rio Tinto will secure his company’s international supply chain
5798 Peacock Salt has secured a long-term agreement with Rio Tinto's Australian subsidiary 5799 Dampier Salt (DSL) to supply solar salt for the UK market.

The agreement with the world’s largest salt exporter will see Ayr, Scotland-based Peacock importing in the region of 500,000tonnes of salt/year.

Peacock says it currently controls 15% of the UK’s road salt market, supplying to a range of public and private sector clients.

Director Angus Craig said the deal with Australia and UK-based 5800 Rio Tinto Group will secure the company’s international supply chain and give it the base to further grow its market share throughout the UK.

“The business has experienced significant growth throughout the past few years,” he said. “Key to this growth has been the development of a strong international supply network which has given us the ability to meet the growing demand for salt products across the UK market place.” 

Earlier this year local authorities in the UK battled to keep major highway routes clear as continued freezing temperatures    led to a shortage in gritting salt. Authorities had to close minor routes and cut salt use in an attempt to preserve dwindling supplies.

Craig believes that proper planning will help to prevent the UK being caught out by the freak winter conditions.

“The sustained winter period led to an unprecedented level of demand for salt. Our transport networks were under significant pressure and local and central government received severe criticism for failing to plan properly for the freezing conditions.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Transport the key to economic growth
    July 12, 2012
    Delegates from around the world discussed the future of global transport at the 2009 International Transport Forum in Leipzig, Germany In the face of the global economic downturn, transport will play a key role in supporting economic growth and in the creation of new confidence in the world's economic future, the delegates of the 2009 International Transport Forum (ITF) agreed. As almost all global threats have strong, central links and impacts, the transport sector will remain at the forefront of most glob
  • Shell’s John Read explains “adaptable bitumen” developments
    December 15, 2016
    Shell’s highly innovative bitumen and asphalt solutions are helping create future-ready urban road networks around the world to meet the needs of today and tomorrow. Shell’s general manager of bitumen technology, Professor John Read, takes a look at some of the company’s game-changing ideas. The next 30 or so years will see a significant transformation in the way we live. Whereas almost 75% of the world’s population lived in rural locations in 1950, around 75% will live in cities by 2050. The global popu
  • Qatar’s new highway requires huge logistics operation
    October 26, 2016
    In the Middle East nation Qatar, a large-scale highway project is underway that will make significant improvements for vehicle capacity and cut journey times for drivers. The new route will also improve transport connections between Qatar’s ports and neighbouring Saudi Arabia. At the same time, the new highway will carry much of the heavy vehicle traffic travelling between the two countries.
  • Managing resource to create more resilient roads
    June 22, 2018
    As pressure increases on the cost and availability of resources, investment in recycling technology continues to grow across the road building industry. To meet its full potential, a greater understanding is needed of material performance to allow the building of more resilient, sustainable and economic networks - *David Smith explains. Over the past decade, the road construction industry has made significant strides in recycling. Reducing the reliance on virgin materials is of environmental importance,