The expansion of the logistics center for Mooy Logistics in Hazeldonk, Netherlands is in full swing. This location is mainly used as a hub for France and other Southern European countries, and has been in operation since January 1, 2009. The current capacity of the property is 10,000 square meters with 4,500 refrigerated pallets, the expansion will add 8,500 square meters of floor space, "It will be a modern and functional center, built in a sustainable way through the use of LED lighting. Fortunately, it did not freeze much this winter and we are right on schedule for completion mid-April," says Willem Zonnevijlle with satisfaction.
Gert Noorderink and Willem Zonnevijlle
The floor space will serve as the processing area where numerous VAL activities will be carried out, such as packaging, repackaging, labeling, order picking, etc, "For years we have offered our customers all the facets of logistics services, from A to Z under one roof. We work together with specialized partners like IQ Packing and HDG Services, in order to ensure the highest quality of service," continues Willem. "Fortunately, we see that these activities meet a need. In the past we transported fruits and vegetables from point A to point B, now we have complemented the transportation activities with additional logistics services."
Ripening cells and cold zone
Mooy Logistics goes above and beyond the standard storage and trans-shipment company. The expansion will include a few ripening cells, which are specially designed for the ripening of exotic products like mangoes and avocados. They will first add three ripening cells, and eventually they will have eight. The expansion also includes a special 'cold zone' for soft fruit, in which the fruit will arrive in the cross-dock area in a temperature of 2°C, "Demand for all berries is growing rapidly. Because of this increase in demand we will also add a special packaging line just for berries. With these specialized services we are also meeting the needs of our on-site partners and the needs of our customers on the market."
"Until recently we were only busy with fruits and vegetables, flowers and plants. These products will always be important to us, but we see requests from the retail sector to also take care, logistically speaking, of other refrigerated products. Therefore, we are broadening our product scope. The expansion gives us a stronger base so we can better accommodate seasonal peaks," says the commercial director Gert Noorderink. "Since the accession of Agri-Logistiek we have been able to offer full loads of goods to all of Europe. Also, after we closed our branch in Venlo the majority of our customers moved with us to Breda, The Netherlands, due to the complete range of logistics services we have here in Hazeldonk."
Automation and cost control
"The margins in logistics and in particular refrigerated transport are still under pressure. This is why we have strongly focused on cost control and automation in recent years. One example is an automated planning module that creates proposed routes. This was implemented last year and is starting phase II this year. We have also acquired Navitrans (an ERP package with a built-in Transport Management System), based on Microsoft Dynamics NAV. All of this has had quite an impact on our people and processes, but it is necessary to make the next automation process," says Gert. "The objective is to have a fully automated chain: from order, via planning, trip computer and scanning the CMR to billing."
According to Willem, demand for other modes of transportation is limited, "Speed remains an issue with refrigerated transport, but we also offer inter-modal solutions. Developments are monitored seriously, partly due to our participation in Lean & Green, which has the intended result of reducing CO² emissions. We continue to invest in our fleet; we recently purchased 30 new trailers, ten of which are Multi-temp trailers, which allows us to serve our customers even better with two different temperatures."
Mooy Logistics will be at Fruit Logistica in hall 3.2, stand C-13.