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TMC Opens New Site in Bristol

Reproduced with the kind permission of Marine World Magazine

Nick Bridel, Commercial Systems Manager

In Issues 2 and 3 of Marine World we reported on the two trade outlets of TMC (Tropical Marine Centre). On 14th April we were pleased to be invited to the opening of their latest satellite in Bristol.

The site was officially opened by Jim Bloom, Chairman of Cranswick PLC, TMC’s parent company. Paul West, MD of TMC thanked all the people involved in the design and construction of the new site and said "The opening of our second satellite business will further strengthen our business model based on providing convenient access to cash and carry wholesale aquatic goods and marine livestock".

The site, situated just off Junction 17 of the M5 has a 2,700 sq. ft. livestock holding facility and a 3,000 sq. ft. warehouse with a full cash and carry service.

The same emphasis has been given to water quality as we saw at Chorleywood and Manchester and, again, everything is alarmed so that if any system fails the fault can be traced quickly and accurately to minimise any down time. The filtration system is the latest state of the art technology with most things provided using an "ad on" principle. This means that if any piece of the system has to be isolated for maintenance it can be taken off-line while the rest of the system continues to work.The water quality is continually monitored by a test probe, feeding information to a YSI 5200 unit which is a monitor, data logging and control device. The unit tests temperature, dissolved oxygen, conductivity, salinity, pH and radox levels – it also controls the generation of ozone.

The data collected by the Unit can then be fed into a computer for logging and can also be accessed remotely for the correction of abnormal levels.

Bristol’s Commercial Systems Manager, Nick Bridel, said, "this is an exciting time for TMC and the new site means our South Western customers have the opportunity of selecting livestock on a daily basis if they wish, rather than only being able to get to Chorleywood once a week.

The fish house has been designed along the same lines as Manchester with a similar number of stock tanks. All the fish are being imported via the London airports at the moment, although Bristol Airport may be used in the future. As the fish arrive they go through the same procedure as the other sites – acclimation, unpacked under red light conditions, transferred to small individual tanks where system water is slowly added. When the fish have been rested they are then moved to the fish house.

The warehouse, full of dry goods, has been arranged on shelving units on the style of a supermarket with everything arranged on an aisle basis. Simply get a trolley, push it round and help yourself – but pay at the end of course!

Nick Bridel said that the response from customers so far had been extremely positive and encouraging showing that there was a real need for this site and that all the work has been worthwhile.

Mike Donlan