In the coming weeks, Zeebrugge Food Logistics will open a new deep freeze warehouse for at least 15,000 pallets. “This means doubling our capacity and that’s good for 25 new jobs,” says Managing Director Sylvie Pekos. The building, with an area of about one hectare, provides space for specialized services for international trade and e-commerce.
read more?
Register once and read immediately.
Now free 30-day access to all additional articles and always access to free articles.
Zeebrugge Food Logistics has started cooling a huge new freezer warehouse along the Irish-Zeestraat in the area for food companies. “We will take delivery of the first goods from July 26th, and we will be operating at full capacity during August,” says Managing Director Sylvie Pekos. The new complex has an area of less than 8000 square meters and a height of 19.5 meters. It is located across the street from the current 5,000 m² facility, which has been Zeebrugge’s largest frozen warehouse since 2009. €13 million “We are increasing our frozen product capacity from 12,000 to 27,000 pallets. We are also doubling the area at 550 square meters of fresh chilled produce.The new building will house all kinds of merchandise for human consumption: vegetables, fruits, potatoes, chips, meat, poultry, ice cream, fruit juices, you name it.We only deal with fish in part of our subsidiary, Vlaamse Visveiling “. There is a clear plan behind the 13 million euro expansion. “On the one hand, we want to continue to play in the interest of the West Flemish food producers who are at the top of Europe, among others. On the other hand, we will continue to develop value-added services. The building includes a large space for specific food safety checks for export to all parts of the world and to United Kingdom.In addition, we will focus on e-commerce with a choice of modular pieces.As a result, we are evolving further from pure logistic warehousing to handling “bare” bulk products to individual packaging ready for warehousing, noting, for example, To the best date before that.” As the only Belgian supplier of ships to this sector, we supply fresh produce, frozen and alcoholic beverages throughout Europe. This requires specific facilities such as a hermetically sealed warehouse for non-EU compliant goods. Examples include genetically modified corn products or meat grown with hormone supplements that are not approved in the European Union. Of course, this sector also includes a lot of specialized management. “The wind turbine expansion will provide many more jobs than the previous five office workers and three dockers. About 25 new jobs will be created. We have job openings for order pickers, access to truck drivers, shift leaders and a logistics manager. So we are pleased with the agreement the unions have made. And employers at the end of June on arranging strict logistics tasks in the port area.” Striking: All the energy needed for cooling and freezing comes from a single wind turbine installed last year. Enough electricity for all of our facilities most days. We also installed solar panels. And when it’s dark and windless, we buy green electricity. “Next to the new warehouse there is another site that is expanding even more.” We expect that increased trade with China will strengthen Zeebrugge. Nor do we intend to demolish the old warehouse, as some rumors claim. On the contrary: we need every square meter to continue to meet the high demand.”
