16/02/2009 (LDP Business) - A PALM oil processing facility will be built in the Mersey docklands in a scheme worth £18m.

London-based New Britain Palm Oils has got the go-ahead to build the plant on a six-acre site near Regent Road, Bootle.

Initially, 28 jobs will be created in two phases but the company said this number could grow as the operation expands.

New Britain will ship the oil from its plantations in Papua, New Guinea, to the Port of Liverpool, from where it will be transported to the new facility.

Director Alan Chaytor told LDP Business the company had considered several dockland sites around the UK but decided Merseyside was the best option. A key factor was an agreement with Tate & Lyle to utilise existing nearby tanker storage capacity.

“We decided on Liverpool because the physical location is ideal,” said Mr Chaytor. “There is the deep water facility here which is ideal for our tankers and the tank storage capacity is also a major advantage. Doing business here has been a very smooth and efficient process.”

Palm Oil is used in thousands of everyday food and non-food products including bread, biscuits, margarine and cosmetic products . It is a vital ingredient of around one in 10 of the products on the supermarket shelves.

Mr Chaytor said the Merseyside site also offered excellent transport links to its major customers, like food producers, across the north of the country.

Palm oil production is a huge global industry, totalling around 45m tonnes every year, of which New Britain produces up to 350,000. It takes its oil from 46,000 hectares of planted palms across Papua New Guinea.

It is the largest private employer in the country, with 13,000 workers and additionally deals with more than 10,000 farmers.

The company, which turns over between $(US)150 and $200m a year, aims to double in size over the next few years. It is also proud of its sustainability credentials and insists it will be the first company to supply traceable and sustainable palm oil into the EU.

An increasing number of major companies including Unilever, Tesco, Sainsbury, M&S, are planning to shift their products to sustainable palm oil and New Britain believes this represents a major opportunity.

Vessels of between 20,000 and 50,000 tonnes will deliver the oil to Liverpool up to eight times a year.

Peel Ports’ marketing director, Frank Robotham, said: “This is a fantastic investment for the port. The North West has 100,000 people working in the food industry and Liverpool is better located than anywhere else to supply that sector.”