East Norfolk farmers were given a tour of the new �5m grain terminal at Great Yarmouth's EastPort.

More than 45 members of Stalham Farmers' Club were shown inside one of the 5,000 tonne capacity silos. Two are fitted with four high-capacity driers capable of reducing moisture content in 2,000-tonne batches.

The members, led by chairman Alistair Ross, were told that Gleadell expected to ship about 80,000 tonnes of grain and oilseed rape from the terminal by the end of the month.

While most of the cargoes have been shipped in smaller vessels but Gleadell's staff plan some bigger shipments in the coming weeks.

At the recent official opening, the firm's managing director David Sheppard, said: 'Our Great Yarmouth grain terminal represents the culmination of our development plans in East Anglia which started with the opening of our Swaffham office in 2002.

'It gives farmers a full drying facility – without the need for their capital commitment – at an end user destination, cutting both cost and carbon emissions. This approach has been proven this year in a wet and disrupted harvest when we have dried significant amounts of farmers' grain.'

'By the end of October we will have exported approximately 80,000 tonnes of barley, wheat and oilseed rape to seven different countries from Great Yarmouth.

'These are exciting times to be in the grain trade and we look forward positively to the future. We firmly believe that ports, particularly deep water ports, will have a key role to play in supplying our domestic and foreign customers with the goods they require.'

And alongside the terminal, Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service staged a drill involving nine tenders and the high-capacity pump, while the farmers inspected the specialist ship loader, capable of handling 750 tonnes an hour.

BLOB The club's secretary, Frank Read reminded members that entries for the best two acres of sugar beet competition should submitted as soon as possible.