More than £10,000 was raised by Drax and its partners towards this year’s appeal for Mission to Seafarers, a charity which supports people working at sea.
The total raised was more than enough for the target of 600 Christmas parcels, with the additional funds going towards Mi-Fi communications to enable those at sea to stay better connected with their families and friends.
Volunteers from the charity and Drax packed parcels with the donated items and supplies and then distributed to crews on the ships.
Mark Gibbens, Drax Head of Logistics, said: “Our global supply chain operates around the world every single day of the year, even Christmas. The biomass delivered by Sea Farers helps generate renewable power for millions of British homes and businesses.
“We wanted to make sure that at this special time of the year, we took a moment to thank those who are sacrificing time with their families to supply our power station with the renewable fuel that we need. I’d like to thank all our partners who helped on this project. We hope all of those working at sea this Christmas have a safe and pleasant time, despite being away from their families.”
The partners who took part in the initiative alongside Drax were:
- DAN Shipping
- Ultrabulk
- Associated British Ports
- GB Railfrieght
- MOL
- SMS Towage
- Port of Tyne
- DB Cargo
- AHK
Revd. Tim Linkens, Chaplain to The Humber Ports, said: “The work of seafarers is vital to the UK throughout the year. They spend many months away from home working in all weathers. Much of what they do is unseen and mostly we are unaware of how much they bring to our shores.
“At Christmas time, these gifts reassure seafarers that, although they might be out of sight, they are not out of mind. They are always received with much joy onboard and all of us involved in seafarer welfare are thankful to those who have donated so generously to make these gifts possible.”
ENDS
Media contacts
Aidan Kerr, Senior Media Manager
E: [email protected]
T: 07849090368
About Drax
Drax Group’s purpose is to enable a zero carbon, lower cost energy future and in 2019 announced a world-leading ambition to be carbon negative by 2030, using bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) technology.
Drax’s around 3,000 employees operate across three principal areas of activity – electricity generation, electricity sales to business customers and compressed wood pellet production and supply to third parties. For more information visit www.drax.com
Power generation:
Drax owns and operates a portfolio of renewable electricity generation assets in England and Scotland. The assets include the UK’s largest power station, based at Selby, North Yorkshire, which supplies five percent of the country’s electricity needs.
Having converted Drax Power Station to use sustainable biomass instead of coal it has become the UK’s biggest renewable power generator and the largest decarbonisation project in Europe. It is also where Drax is piloting the groundbreaking negative emissions technology BECCS within its CCUS (Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage) Incubation Area.
Its pumped storage, hydro and energy from waste assets in Scotland include Cruachan Power Station – a flexible pumped storage facility within the hollowed-out mountain Ben Cruachan.
The Group also aims to build on its BECCS innovation at Drax Power Station with a target to deliver 4 million tonnes of negative CO2 emissions each year from new-build BECCS outside of the UK by 2030 and is currently developing models for North American and European markets.
Pellet production and supply:
The Group has 19 operational pellet plants and developments with nameplate production capacity of around 5 million tonnes a year.
Drax is targeting 8 million tonnes of production capacity by 2030, which will require the development of over 3 million tonnes of new biomass pellet production capacity. The pellets are produced using materials sourced from sustainably managed working forests and are supplied to third party customers in Europe and Asia for the generation of renewable power.
Drax’s pellet plants supply biomass used at its own power station in North Yorkshire, England to generate flexible, renewable power for the UK’s homes and businesses, and also to customers in Europe and Asia.
Customers:
Drax supplies renewable electricity to UK businesses, offering a range of energy-related services including energy optimisation, as well as electric vehicle strategy and management.
To find out more go to the website www.energy.drax.com
