The capabilities of the new cold store by global shipping giant Maersk in St. Petersburg are operational and ready to serve the needs of a high-demand Russian market, the company said this week, nine months after it started building the new facility.
In the near future the cold store will also offer freezing capabilities in a separate storage chamber for frozen produce (-25°C), Maersk said in a press release.
The first container to arrive at the new warehouse brought pears from Argentina after a 26-day journey and was unloaded swiftly into the chilled chamber operating at a temperature of 0.5 Celsius. In total, more than 60 Maersk’s refrigerated containers were scheduled to arrive at the facility as part of the end-to-end service from Argentina, as well as grapes and apples originating from South Africa, the company said.
“The full end-to-end offering will allow our customers to enjoy the shorter overall lead time, predictable costs and best in class service,” Zsolt Katona, Maersk’s Managing Director for Eastern Europe, said during the inauguration of the first reefer container.
The new cold store operated by Maersk has a total capacity of more than 40,000 pallets in 3 chambers and uses CO2 cooling, which makes it the largest commercial cold store in Russia using this new technology, the company said.
Over the next months, as part of its Cold Chain Management product, Maersk will also establish on-site customs clearance, bonded cold storage (frozen) and phytosanitary/veterinary services, it added.
