Tesco could axe more than 400 jobs as it announced it is to close its distribution centre in Cheshire, while its produce operations are set to shift as part of the move.
The UK’s largest supermarket started a 90-day consultation on Monday over the future of 426 workers at its Middlewich site.
Last month, Tesco announced plans to move 700 jobs to Widnes and close its depot in Middleton, Greater Manchester.
Tesco said the distribution centre was not the right location, despite plans to build a multi-million pound superstore in Middlewich.
Logistics group Stobart is set to raise £61 million, which could rise to £62.5m depending on the satisfaction of further conditions, from the 25-year sale and leaseback of the Widnes site.
Stobart employs about 1,000 staff at its multi-modal operations in Warrington, Runcorn and Widnes, where it has sold 70 acres of its 165-acre inland port operation to the pensions arm of Legal & General Assurance.
Included in the sale is a new 528,000sqft state-of-the-art distribution centre, developed by Stobart, which supermarket giant Tesco has committed to use as a northern hub.
Tesco will use the new facility for onward distribution, provided by Stobart, when it extends its recently launched rail service transporting fresh produce from Valencia in southern Spain to the UK.
Stobart said the disposal is part of its plan to realise value from certain assets in order to drive further expansion.
Andrew Tinkler, chief executive of Stobart Group, said: “This asset disposal illustrates a fundamental strategy of our group, which is to invest in assets in order to develop existing and new customer relationships and then realise the value of the asset, at a profit, to reinvest elsewhere in the business.
“At Widnes, this has enabled us to gain a long-term distribution contract for Tesco and to increase the utilisation and support development of the next phases of the inland port facility.”
A Tesco spokesman told the BBC of the job losses: "We hope to deploy many staff to different sites. The loss of 426 jobs is the worst-case scenario.
"Unfortunately Middlewich is not the right location for the rest of our stores. We will be working with staff to minimise compulsory redundancies."
Tesco claimed more than 2,000 jobs will be created in the North West.
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