“The plan is for the new Cold Store to open on 1 February 2019. Construction is in full swing, and the outer walls have already been put in place,” says Pascal Gybels, responsible for quality for Luik Natie. “The new Cold Store is primarily meant for products such as fruit, honey and potatoes. The new cold store was initially built for new customers and to anticipate the growth of our current customers.” The new cold store is being built on the left bank in the Port of Antwerp, close to the new terminals. This location saves time and costs for customers.
“Everything under one roof”
“The unique thing about this cold store is that we’ll have an in-house inspection service of the food agency. This is unique in the Port of Antwerp. Besides, we have our own customs entrepôt and our own car inspection for a number of customers. It’s an advantage to have everything under one roof for customers,” Pascal says. The other locations of Luik Natie are currently full, and that’s why the new location is necessary. “The plan is now to build a new deep-freeze storage with room for 22,000 pallet places after the cold store has been completed. The opening is scheduled for 1 February 2020.”
Frozen market
Luik Natie is currently seeing a strong increase in demand for many products. “On the fruit market, we’re mostly seeing demand increasing for types of fruit that are becoming cheaper, just like bananas and organic products,” Pascal explains. One of the biggest buyers of products continues to be Europe. “We’re not seeing much growth in Asia yet. Besides the growing fresh market, we’ve also seen the frozen market growing considerably. We do a lot of meat and fish as well, but also potato products such as fries. We mostly see this increase in the demand for storage capacity focused primarily on export.”
The new cold store is being built completely CO2 neutrally, and it has its own wind and solar energy supply. “We’ve decided to set up the new location ecologically because we as a company think it’s important to think about the future and our customers also think this is increasingly important,” Pascal concludes.
For more information:
Pascal Gybels
Luik Natie
Kruipin Harbour 1145
9130 Kallo – Belgium
+32(0)356 163 00
info@luiknatie.be
www.luiknatie.be