Antwerp Cold Stores has recently opened a new complex in the port of Antwerp, thus considerably expanding the range of refrigerated and deepfreeze facilities available within the port, Antwerp Port Authority said in a media release.
As of 1 March this year there is a new player in the segment of refrigerated and deepfreeze storage in the port of Antwerp. The new project under the name of Antwerp Cold Stores aims to position itself as the leading logistics cluster for the foodstuffs sector in the port area on the Left Bank. The project will come on the market in stages.
In the first phase, 32,000 m² of deepfreeze and refrigerated warehousing will enter service, offering 8000 pallet places for deepfreeze and 7,500 for refrigerated storage. A further 24,500 m² of deepfreeze and reefer capacity is planned for the second phase, with 12,000 multifunctional reefer and deepfreeze places.
Antwerp Cold Stores "aims to position itself as the most important neutral, collaborative logistics platform for the foodstuffs and logistics industry, with the emphasis on quality and sustainability." Furthermore it plans to collaborate closely with the shipping lines to help them raise their container load factor, which can be achieved by among other things rotating the containers faster. Within its collaboration concept Antwerp Cold Stores counts on support both from the port of Antwerp and from the forwarding community. The project is an initiative of the Antwerp-based investment group Ferrum which is mainly active in the foodstuffs industry.
"As an investor we believe that the port of Antwerp can play an even more important role as a European gateway for foodstuffs in the near future, hence this large investment," a spokesperson explained.
The new investment will considerably expand the refrigerated and deepfreeze storage capacity in the port. Antwerp is already the largest banana port in Europe, and also has an excellent and longstanding reputation for transhipment, storage and handling of reefer and deepfreeze products. Its strong selling points in this segment include its large, diversified range of storage facilities combined with numerous value-added activities and excellent intermodal connections.