Hull proves to be a sweet solution for chocolate bosses

FAIRTRADE company Divine Chocolate has cut its carbon emissions by relocating its warehouse to Hull.

Following a review of its "chocolate miles", Divine has moved its warehouse to the city from Pocklington.

The move, which it is estimated will cut 59 per cent of its carbon emissions, will see all Divine chocolate arrive in the UK via Hull docks.

The chocolate is transported from Germany where the cocoa is processed, via Holland, before landing in Hull where it is then distributed all over the UK.

While Hull's port location and transport links made it the ideal choice for the new warehouse, it is not the only reason the city is a sweet solution for storing chocolate, as Divine's operations manager Sarah Watson explains.

She said: "Chocolate is temperature sensitive so there is no point having the warehouse in the south for example, as it will melt.

"The north is relatively ambient so it is a sensible location and also more environmentally-friendly as, in addition to being near the docks, the warehouse will need less refrigeration.

"As a business we are always striving to be environmentally responsible and to make continuous improvements wherever possible, so we are very pleased to have been able to take this opportunity to re-organise our warehousing and transport to cut down on the road-miles our chocolate needs to travel to arrive in UK.."

Divine Chocolate Ltd is co-owned by Kuapa Kokoo, a smallholder cocoa farmers' cooperative with 45,000 members in Ghana which has a 45 per cent share of the company.

As a dedicated Fairtrade company all Divine products carry the Fairtrade mark, which is an independent guarantee that the ingredients are sourced under internationally agreed terms and conditions.

The chocolate is available in shops and supermarkets across the country, including Hull where the biggest and entire range can be found in Hull's One World Shop in Waltham Street.

The directors of the shop have for years wanted to help support Sierra Leone – one of the poorest countries in the world whose capital, Freetown, is twinned with Hull.

Links

Divine Chocolate

www.divinechocolate.com

Hull One World Shop

www.oneworldhull.co.uk