Estate’s bonded store for imported wind turbines

One of the first open-air bonded storage facilities in Scotland has been created at the Hillington Park premises of the Gordon Leslie Group. But it’s not for the wines and spirits trade, although the logistics company also caters for that!

The new set-up outside the bonded warehouses off Penilee Road promises to increase the company’s turnover by around £500,000 each year. It will enable imported but as-yet-unsold wind turbine towers, blades and nacelles to be held in secure surroundings, to allow duties to be deferred until the final sale.

Managing director Craig Leslie explained: “We were approached back in March by Northern Power, an American enterprise, who were searching for a company to manage the import, storage and delivery of wind turbines from different parts of the world into the UK.

“After investigating what would be involved, we realised that we would have to apply to HM Revenue and Customs to establish an out-ofdoors bonded storage facility, which is very unusual, but we were successful.

“As a result, we have reached an agreement with Northern Power on a long-term relationship of at least three to five years. And, as well as simply storing these major pieces of engineering, we have also been contracted to manage the whole service, co-ordinating all freight movements, including loading and unloading, transportation and delivery to the final construction sites, wherever they might be in the UK.”

Already the Gordon Leslie bonded yard has more-or-less filled up with a couple of dozen of the huge tubular steel tower sections, each weighing up to 15 tonnes. These have been imported from China, while the generators and nacelles, and the rotating blades, have come in from Italy.

The company has invested in three large new flatback trailer vehicles to cope with onward transportation requirements, and have demolished a big old water tank as part of a plan to extend their secure yard to create space for more imports in the future.

“We’ve jumped through some considerable hoops for Northern Power,” said Craig Leslie. “And they seem happy with what we are doing for them. We have been rewarded with a much bigger and ongoing contract, as long as government policies continue to favour wind generating constructions.

“Most of these units are destined to be constructed on agricultural land around Scotland, where a single wind turbine would power most of the local farming needs, while a second would export to the grid to earn extra money for the farmer.”

The enterprising development at Hillington Park is stirring up quite a bit of interest from the Scottish Government – and in particular from local Renfrewshire North & West MSP Derek Mackay, the minister for local government and planning, who visited the Gordon Leslie Group site earlier this month.

Contact: Craig Leslie, 0141 883 9076.