Euro Pool System celebrates 25th anniversary and opens depot in Barendrecht

On Friday 10 November, Euro Pool System celebrated its 25th anniversary in Barendrecht, the Netherlands. They combined the party with the opening of their depot near the entrance to the trade centre in Barendrecht in cooperation with partners WDP and The Greenery. “Our reusable packaging has ensured an efficient supply chain for our customers for a quarter of a century. We make sure the valuable products of our producers and suppliers arrive at supermarkets efficiently, sustainably and undamaged. Day in, day out, year after year, and decade after decade,” says CEO Gerjo Scheringa from Euro Pool Group.

“Our divisions are far ahead of their time, not just in the field of collaboration, convenience and efficiency, but also in the fields of sustainability and CO2 Reduction. The visionaries who founded Euro Pool System are three packing pools from the cooperative auctions in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, who wanted to bring the logistical impasse to an end. The blue ESP cask has been a major success right from the start, and its use is still increasing by eight to ten per cent per year. The goal for the coming years is to achieve a circular economy. One example of this is the rail connection ‘Cool Rail,’ in which we participate,” Gerjo says. Former Dutch Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende was invited as a special guest to talk about the circular economy, and he gave an inspiring speech.

The final speaker was Dirk Vercammen, Regional Director Region West from Euro Pool System, who talked about the start of the Barendrecht depot. “And that doesn’t just mean the building. It’s also our policy, as part of food safety and hygiene, to wash all crates before they leave our service centre. To wash these crates according to standards from the Benelux, we need strong, automated equipment. The equipment that was officially started up today, has been completely designed by Euro Pool System’s own workers, and has the latest technology in the field of folding crates, identifying and counting the crates using photography, removing labels, quality control and automatic sorting.”

After an acrobatics show, Tony de Pauw (WDP), Steven Martina (The Greenery), Dirk Vercammen and Gerjo Scheringa (Euro Pool System) opened the new depot together.