Breda, Netherlands-headquartered NewCold Advanced Cold Logistics has signed up Simplot Australia as a new client and is investing a further $160 million in a cold storage facility in Melbourne, bringing its total investment in Victoria to $460 million.
NewCold will more than double the size of its Melbourne 2 facility, providing customers with advanced features in state-of-the-art warehousing and logistics services. At 43 meters high, capacity at the site will almost double from 115,000 pallet positions to 225,000. The extension will include 30,000 slots for ambient/chilled and 85,000 pallet positions for frozen goods.
Equipped with one of the largest automated high bays in the world, the site also includes a container park. The expanded facility is scheduled to be operational in 2022, and Simplot will transition all of its frozen product storage there in 2023.
NewCold has a solid reputation in Europe and the United Kingdom, and is currently enlarging its footprint in North America as well as enhancing operations in the Asia-Pacific region.
“We are excited to be partnering with NewCold on our future Victorian frozen warehouse solution,” said Simplot Australia Managing Director Graham Dugdale. “We were attracted to Newcold’s fully automated AS/RS high bay solution, world-class systems, energy efficiency, and productivity, which stand above conventional cold storage solutions. The new facility will ensure we can continue to efficiently deliver the products that Australia’s leading retail and foodservice customers depend on and ultimately provide an improved customer experience.”
Bram Hage, founder and chief executive officer of NewCold, stated: “This is a great day for NewCold and the cold storage industry in Australia. It is very pleasing to see our continued investment and growth in Australia as we seek to build a long-term strategic relationship with Simplot. Our robust global pipeline includes the delivery of at least six new capital projects, as we continue to develop multiple large-scale automated facilities across Europe, Australia and North America. This momentum confirms a very positive future for customers and an innovation boost for the industry.”
Abhy Maharaj, executive vice president at NewCold Business & Growth, added: “Collaborating with respected partners like Simplot drives our success, as we share an ambition to transform the industry and reimagine the global food supply chain. We have invested and grown our regional head office in Melbourne, which will be leading the expansion development in close cooperation with our partners and stakeholders in Australia and Europe. We are confident that Oceania will continue to be an opportunity-rich region with at least another three new large-scale sites planned for development in the near future.”
