METRO opens new warehousing facility for frozen products
13 April 2023In early April METRO has kicked off the operations of its new logistics centre, situated in the Dutch city of Bergen op Zoom, that handles the shipments of globally sourced frozen products. It’s the international wholesaler’s latest efforts to enhance its supply chain efficiency and to further leverage its global sourcing competence.
The modern facility is located inside a multi-user warehouse that is operated by an international leading Logistics Service Provider (LSP) specialised in the warehousing of frozen products. METRO fully outsources the operations to its logistics partner with the facility fully compliant with temperature regime specified for frozen products. Having become one of the top clients of the warehouse, METRO takes up 10,000 pallet locations out of a total capacity of appx. 170,000 pallet locations of the warehouse.
The new warehouse handles the wholesaler’s globally sourced frozen items including bread, pastry, fruits & vegetables, potatoes and ready food from its suppliers as well as shipments of frozen fish and seafood from its international trading offices. For this, the convenient location of Bergen op Zoom situated between two major seaports Rotterdam and Antwerp proves ideal for the inbound shipments by sea.
Technically, the warehouse is fully automated with inbound pallets placed on a conveyor system, scanned and weighted before being transferred to the high-bay racks by an automated shelf racking unit. Upon receiving orders, the automated shelf racking unit picks pallets from the racks for the outbound buffer, where the pallets are then transferred via a conveyor system to be loaded to the truck.
With this state-of-the-art facility, METRO aims to both further improve its Master Data and stock accuracy as well as to further enhance service level and to secure crucial supply chain capacity to grow its sales of frozen products. By May 2023, all orders from METRO local subsidiaries for its globally sourced frozen products will be served from this new facility following the ongoing transition.