INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN
PROJECT
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Africa ’ s largest transcritical CO 2 cold storage facility
Maersk , with their new strategic partner , has established this as their second dedicated storage facility site in South Africa and will trade under the name of Precool Cold Storage . The company ’ s CEO , Manny Dos Anjos says , “ Our mission is to be the preferred cold storage provider for temperaturecontrolled solutions throughout the perishable industry , providing flexibility to customers .” The partnership further increases Maersk ’ s capabilities in serving the perishable industry as the new facility was designed and developed specifically for this customer-segment .
The collaboration came about as Maersk heard of Precool Cold Storage ’ s expansion plans of the existing facility as they too were looking for an opportunity to share global logistics solutions as part of their growth strategy to service a larger portion of the supply chain . The parties got together , combining their respective business proposals , revealing a favourable outcome both ways , and thus an agreement was concluded .
The expansion increases the capacity of the current operations that can now handle in excess of 12 500 pallet spaces , between the two facilities , in eleven different chambers , which are capable of temperatures between ambient and -25 ° C .
The project was launched in March 2019 and completed in February 2021 . The project timeline was , as could be expected , affected by Covid-19 related delays as with so many projects in 2020 , and was also hindered by weather setbacks on site due to an extraordinarily heavy rainy season .
Starting out as a wild plot of land at the ground breaking , and overseeing the project with more than 20 years ’ experience in the cold storage arena and prior experience in the meat trade , was Precool Cold Storage ’ s CEO , Manny Dos Anjos who oversaw the development with the assistance of the appointed architect and engineers . Dos Anjos also specified the requirements of the refrigeration and electrical systems for the project .
The size of the new facility was based on the direct correlation and maximum utilisation of the space available for the expansion , and can now accommodate an additional 7 500 pallets of commercial refrigerated product , as well as 2 500 sterrislots , for fruit requiring specialised cooling .
As Precool Cold Storage , the plan for the new facility is foremost to grow their existing business with the main focus on serving the South African citrus export industry , through the Durban Port , where volumes have been growing rapidly according to information published by the Citrus Growers Association of South Africa .
The choice of location is that the facility is strategically located away from the congested Durban port area , and in proximity of the N3 Highway which is the main corridor , linking Africa ’ s largest harbour to the rest of Africa . This location is aligned to Maersk ’ s strategy , as it created the opportunity for a faster truck turnaround time , being away from the busy bottlenecked Durban port areas .
There are now seven additional loading bays that can accommodate large trucks , and the facility can now easily handle in excess of 100 trucks per day . All loading bays lead to a temperature controlled holding area where product is held before being moved into dedicated temperature controlled storage rooms , to ensure the cold chain is maintained .
This facility will also be used as a model in the Maersk expansion strategy
© Precool Cold Storage © Cold Link Africa | Benjamin Brits
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1 . The 11 000m 2 facility can handle in excess of 100 trucks per day . 2 . The transcritical CO 2 refrigeration system has a total installed capacity of 5.28MW . 3 . The compressor sets in the refrigeration plant room . 4 . Multiple blower coils are installed in each room .
5 . The immense contiguous piled retaining wall was part of the substantial civil works on the site due to the land gradient . Here you can see the sheer height of one of the wallsections .
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© Cold Link Africa | Benjamin Brits
Precool Cold Storage
© Cold Link Africa | Benjamin Brits
COLD LINK AFRICA • March / April 2021 www . coldlinkafrica . co . za 21