Almost £500,000 has been invested in boosting grain storage at a Norfolk port.

Associated British Ports has reopened its Bentinck silo at the Port of King's Lynn, after installing an extra 6,000 tonnes of storage. This represents an expansion in silo storage capacity of almost 25pc, to 32,000 tonnes in total, across some 40 individual bins.

ABP said that there had been an upturn in volumes through the port following a bumper harvest.

The silo cabin can also be used for blending and storing smaller commodity volumes.

Customers using the silo will also be able to benefit from the weighbridge facilities as well as an additional grain processing lab located at the port, which provides quality-testing equipment.

Kim Kennedy, ABP Port Manager at the Port of King's Lynn, said: "We are always striving to provide the best storage and value-added solutions for our customers and this latest investment is a prime example of this.

"It was a great to see grain coming over the weighbridge and being seamlessly fed into the silo, allowing our customers to benefit from the enhanced operational efficiency."

The Port of King's Lynn, handles around 400,000 tonnes of cargo per year. ABP said along with its other East Anglian ports at Lowestoft and Ipswich, it contributes £360m to the economy and supports more than 5,000 jobs.

Lynn also handles timber, aggregates, scrap metal and construction cargo.

A spokesman said it was not yet known how it might be affected in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

Long delays at cross channel ferry ports are expected to see lorries and shipping re-routed to other ports.

He added: "Like any other business we hope there's a deal but we've been busy working to keep trade flowing."

ABP's Humber ports are expected to see increased shipping. As well as easing the log jam at Dover, the operator said moving 10pc of the Kent port's cargo to the Humber would save 100,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions from lorries.