The AGRO Merchants Group has completed the first phase of construction at its Rotterdam-Maasvlakte warehouse, adding 18,000 pallets of frozen and chilled space to the market. The facility provides comprehensive services for the meat and seafood industry and will serve as a replacement Veterinary Border Inspection Point (BIP), which previously operated in Coldstore Wibaco, in Barendrecht, Holland.
Located at Europe’s largest seaport in terms of volume throughput, the warehouse operator is able to take full responsibility for movement of meat products from place origin to final destination, including re-handling, veterinary checks and inspections.
The state-of-art facility achieved a BREEAM Excellent rating for sustainability based on its environment-friendly design, energy and water saving measures and natural refrigerant cooling system.
“The coldstore is a valuable addition to the AGRO network. The prime location at the Port of Rotterdam is ideal for global exports and imports,” said Jan Harthoorn, vice president of business development. “We offer full service solutions under one roof and provide point-to-point solutions for our customers. We have an on-site certified veterinary inspection point and capabilities for order picking, transport, customs documentation management and much more.”
The flexible multi-temperature warehouse is equipped to handle a wide range of frozen and chilled commodities and will offer the possibility to develop custom packaging areas and a wide range of additional value-added services.
Carlos Rodriguez, president of AGRO Merchants Europe, commented: “We are thrilled to be opening our first European green field site in Rotterdam. Our network continues to grow, which enables us to support global trade in an unrivalled way. The Maasvlakte site is a strategic location, allowing us to add another 18,000 pallets in a second phase.”
The investment follows other important projects at key ports worldwide, including the recent expansion of frozen capacity in Algeciras, Spain. Coldstore Urk, also part of AGRO Merchants Group, is one of the most important fish and seafood hubs in the Netherlands and Europe.
In North America, Mullica Hill Cold Storage near the Port of Philadelphia, and Dean’s Services in Oakland, California, both part of AGRO Merchants Group, are regarded as some of the largest import/export hubs for protein products in the United States.
The company owns and operates 56 facilities in nine countries in Europe, the USA, Latin America and the Asia Pacific region, offering more than 750,000 square meters of cold storage space.
