The new service center of Landgard Nord Fruit & Vegetables in Neu Wulmstorf, south of Hamburg, is scheduled to start operations in December. The new location lies directly on the A1 and has a total area of more than 13,000 square metres. The hall features 23 state-of-the-art ripening rooms for bananas and ready-to-eat items, six large, individually temperature-controlled cold rooms, eight state-of-the-art packing lines in a more than 2,500 square meters of packing stations and extensive refrigeration and storage facilities.
Landgard will market overseas products from Neu Wulmstorf as part of a global direct overseas procurement for items such as tropical fruits, citrus fruits, mango, avocado and bananas as well as pome and stone fruit, table grapes and berries. Every week, Landgard expects to receive over 30,000 boxes of ripened bananas and over 35,000 boxes of mature avocados, mangoes and kiwi. The focus here lies on direct purchasing of goods, straight from the producer. Landgard thus creates ideal conditions for the targeted expansion of the growing overseas business for strategic customers in food retailing.
Numerous advantages
The advantages for trade customers are international, direct sourcing structures for overseas products, national and European sourcing directly from the producer, sales and servicing from a single source, logistics service center, storage, transshipment, ripening bananas and ready-to-eat articles. Apart from that, it all revolves around extensive packing services for fruit and vegetables, where Landgard can combine many years of industry expertise.
In addition to this, the classic Landgard assortment in the field of vegetables, originating from the growers in Northern Germany, is handled at the site in Neu Wulmstorf. In the future, Landgard Nord will be using the locations Neu Wulmstorf, Kronprinzenkoog for production, packing station for carrots, tomatoes, peppers, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, savoy cabbage, red cabbage, celery, etc.. Then there is Lassrönne for summer vegetables and as it being a producer location for storage and empties processing. And there is the Bielefeld location for regional customers and regional production.
Ripening rooms
Optimum maturity and uniform product quality
"In the ripening chambers of the new location, the new Softripe technology for the ripening of bananas and ready-to-eat products such as avocados, mangoes and kiwis is used for the first time in Germany. This enables Landgard to provide its customers with optimum maturity and consistent product quality. By offering the entire value chain from a single source, we offer our trading customers a significant reduction in complexity as a producer cooperative with its own producers and as a service provider on site," says Thomas Averhoff, Managing Director of Landgard Nord Fruit & Vegetable GmbH. At the same time, the heat recovery process makes the ripening process particularly sustainable and energy-efficient, as heat and cold are used for the cold rooms and plants.
With the new location in the north, Landgard continues to expand its international purchasing, procurement and sales expertise in the overseas business. The innovative, digital new Softripe technology ensures optimum quality, a better taste, firmness of the pulp and sustainable technology for a gentler and even ripening. All this in conjunction with significant energy savings.
Landgard has the necessary infrastructure at its new location to optimally meet customer requirements. Thanks to its own packing station, Landgard can respond individually to customer requests and has a large capacity for rapid implementation. "However, the decisive factor is the new production line technology and the associated benefits for the products of our retail customers," says Thomas Averhoff.
One of the new packing lines
Regional presence
"Following the opening of our new warehouse for Landgard Ost in Berbersdorf on the A4 and with the commissioning of the new warehouse in the South region in the Euro Industriepark in the Munich area directly on the A9, we are now taking the next logical step with our newest warehouse for Landgard Nord. With the new warehouses, we are excellently and sustainably positioned for our national customers, "said Armin Rehberg, CEO of Landgard eG. "With these new opportunities, our goal is to use the potential of the growing exotics and overseas market for our customers in Germany - especially in the Northern region."
For more information: www.landgard.de