WAREHOUSING
Sovereign Supply Chain directors Kris Marsay ( left ) and Mat Bruce outside the firm ’ s Tees AMP headquarters in Middlesbrough .
SOVEREIGN
WORDS : DAVE ROBSON
Moving into new premises is an exciting time for any business – but warehouse firm Sovereign Supply Chain Service ’ s organic growth trajectory has made it the right time for expansion .
Starting off in a modest 14,000-sq ft facility , Sovereign quickly maximised the full capacity , propelling them to search for an additional warehouse due to demand .
The addition of a 28,000-sq ft warehouse based on the spectacular TeesAMP estate in Middlesbrough helped relieve some of the demand for palletised storage .
This summer , it ’ s adding an impressive new warehouse to its facilities – and this one measures in at a whopping 70,000-sq ft .
Located on Stockton ’ s Portrack Industrial Estate , its sheer scale will allow Sovereign to significantly ramp up its operations .
And according to co-founder and owner Mat Bruce , securing a warehouse with a 10,000 pallet capacity , including racked and bulk stacked options , is a natural next step for a commercial warehousing and fulfilment service business he set up in lockdown 2020 with fellow owner-director Kris Marsay .
Mat said : “ We want to continue our impressive growth and the addition of this sizeable facility will allow us to do just that .
“ Thankfully , our hard work over the past four years has got us into a position where we ’ re now recognised in the area not just as an option , but as a ‘ go to ’ option .”
Choosing the warehouse was , says Mat , a fairly straightforward process .
TERRITORY
New site for expanding warehouse solutions firm
He explained : “ We were quite picky and other options were available but our TeesAMP warehouse , for example , is a premium warehouse and we want to maintain that level .
“ The other facilities available were not of the quality that we ’ ve been able to build the Sovereign business to and with us now venturing into the e-commerce sector , we need a facility to allow us to handle additional volume at a high standard .
“ This fully enclosed site with state-ofthe-art monitoring systems and CCTV will allow us to better cater for this sector .
“ With SIX dock levels and three loading doors , we can simultaneously load and unload nine vehicles at once .”
With legalities completed , work is currently underway to prepare the warehouse for full operations by August .
Mat added : “ We are extremely proud of our success over the past few years that this has enabled us to be able to carry on our growth with such a substantial new warehouse .
“ Since commencing our digital marketing campaign earlier this year I ’ m happy to say we ’ re already in talks with some very large e-commerce retailers and we feel that when the news breaks about who we ’ re working with , it will open the door to further opportunities with companies that want to mirror the success of some of our partners .
“ It ’ s exciting , of course , but we ’ re not trying to take over the world , either – we ’ re doing things with a cautious , common sense approach .
“ But with our organic growth so far , we ’ ve got the right opportunities coming to us to enable us to strengthen our presence and footprint across the Tees Valley in a sustainable fashion .”
With expansion comes the opportunity of further employment and talks are already underway to appoint an operations manager plus several warehouse operatives across both Middlesbrough and Stockton sites .
However , one thing isn ’ t negotiable . Mat explained : “ We will never allow our high level of service to be diluted – excellent customer service is key to us .
“ We pride ourselves on it , it has got us to where we are today and that level of service will remain .”
If you are a business that can benefit from the services offered by Sovereign , get in touch at info @ sovereignsupplychain . co . uk . Visit sovereignsupplychain . co . uk
The voice of business in the Tees region | 85