NewCold Advanced Logistics is installing an automated loading system for double-deck trailers at its Corby site in Northamptonshire, England, that is scheduled to open late this year. Originally designed in 2017 for the company’s cold storage facility in Wakefield, the pod bridges the gap between the deep-frozen production or storage environment and NewCold’s 44-pallet double-deck trailers.
As soon as food product leaves the production line at minus 22 degrees, it is automatically loaded through a sliding door at the back of the 60-pallet-capacity pod, which is pre-cooled to the same temperature. From here the pallets are automatically transferred into the double-deck trailer, docked to the front of the pod.
Three electric-powered refrigeration systems hold the temperature at a constant minus 25 degrees. With loading into the pod completed in just five minutes, every frozen package or pallet remains at a constant set temperature of minus 22 to minus 25 degrees. At no time during its journey from the production line to completed loading in the trailer does any pallet need to be exposed to an ambient environment or touched by an operative.
The same process is reversed when the load reaches the NewCold warehouse, where automatic unloading capability unloads the trailer, again in approximately five minutes, directly into a frozen storage facility.
Push for the Dutch Bogsleigh and Skeleton Team
Meanwhile, Breda, Holland-headquartered NewCold has signed an agreement with the Bob en Sleebond Nederland (BSBN) to sponsor the Dutch bobsleigh and skeleton team as it prepares to compete in the 2022 Winter Olympics slated to take place in Beijing, China. Terms include an option to extend the sponsorship for the following four years in the run-up to the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy.
“This partnership supports a new era of collaboration for NewCold and a national sport that we are all extremely proud of,” said Bram Hage, the company’s founder and chief executive officer. “The bobsleigh and skeleton team has a big dream. We have always supported talent in the pursuit of excellence, the possibility of opportunity, and the spirit of competition and pushing new boundaries. We also feel most at home in a cold environment.”