BMRA member, Sackers, has appointed a new Chairman, Chris Gray. 

Mr Gray has a wealth of knowledge in the shipping, ports and transport industry which is a key part of Sackers business with its international trade arm. His 50 years in the sector combined with his business knowledge allows him to bring skills and experience to grow Sackers to the next level.

Sackers processes scrap metal and sorting it into purer groups within ferrous and non-ferrous categories. The goods are sold for recycling to manufacturers.  its international sales are made up of Rest of World destinations ; India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong with EU sales destination as France, Spain and Belgium.

The business has invested heavily in the circular economy over the last decade, with a £3million investment in the regions only steel shredding plant, shredding items such as whole cars and aeroplanes and more recently a further £1m investment in a copper cable granulating plant. These investments allow the business to directly export all its products directly from raw material to product back to producer, circular economy at its best.

Joint MD David Dodds says “We’ve been exporting for about 20 years and initially it was small scale but over the years it’s become a large part of our business. Chris is highly experienced in logistics and shipping and will bring us his industry knowledge to give us a competitive edge. He also brings huge amounts of business acumen and this is evident in some of the large corporations he has, and still does work for. We are very pleased to have Chris advise and strengthen the Sackers Leadership team and his assistance to “navigate the ship” towards our growth plans.

Chris Gray says “Sackers is a sound business which is evident from riding covid and many recessions. I’m honoured to be asked to be Chairman to help them with the next steps of growth.  There’s lots of opportunities which I’m keen to help with and add new knowledge to the board”.

Chris Gray has spent 50 years in international transportation, ports and shipping. He was previously MD of Contship UK Ltd and Deputy MD of Contship Containerlines Ltd.  He was also CEO of Hutchison Ports UK Ltd and Hutchison Ports Bahamas and Chairman of the UK Major Ports Group.  He was Executive Chairman of the Noatum Ports Group of Companies. He is currently Non Executive Director of Red Funnel Ltd and Red Funnel Holdings Ltd and Strategic Advisor to Turia Port Management Investment (Holdings).  He is also Chairman of Tex Holdings PLC.