After nearly four years of work and after a previous public bidding in 2013 and a competition of direct contracting in 2014, the National Ports Administration (ANP) has just awarded Friopuerto, along with its local partner Rilcomar, the concession to exploit the cold storage complex at the Puerto Libre Port of Montevideo, known as Storage 11.
This area has a storage capacity of 27,000 square meters and up to 9,000 tons, with temperature-controlled chambers allowing variations from -30 ° C to +15 ° C. The concession includes an area adjacent to the complex of about 2,700 square meters, distributed as a connection area for reefers containers and for a future covered area for classification, which will also be refrigerated. The complex has entrances on both sides and to the berthing line of Pier 11.
The services that will be offered at these facilities range from loading and unloading perishable goods at different temperatures, storage, inspection, consolidation and deconsolidation, palletizing and de-palletizing, labelling, packaging, sorting and transfer of cargo, and other services.
The winner of the tender was a consortium formed by Friopuerto and Rilcomar, the logistics subsidiary of Group Sere. The group, based in Montevideo, is a local leader in customs brokerage, freight forwarder, and port logistics that is entering a new activity with this project.
With this award, Friopuerto will soon be operating in five countries on three continents. In 2015, Friopuerto completed the expansion of facilities of Valencia and launched a warehouse in Veracruz, in Mexico. At the end of the year it will start operating in Tangier Med, on the north coast of Morocco, and in the first quarter of 2016, the company is expected to inaugurate operations in the Portuguese port of Sines and take charge of the cold storage complex in Montevideo. Within twelve months, Friopuerto will have started operations in five new facilities.
The company, which belongs to the Romeu Group, is undergoing a major growth plan which provides new openings and acquisitions of port cold storages, mainly in the Western Mediterranean and Latin America.
More information at http://www.friopuerto.com and from Mr. Manuel Cabrera-Kabana on kabana@friopuerto.com.