China's biggest cold-storage facility opened for business in
Qingdao over the weekend as the port city aims to become Asia's
largest transit hub for refrigerated goods.
The project was built jointly by the Qingdao Port Group and
Iceland's Eimskip, a leading provider of transport, refrigerated
logistics and cold-storage services.
The new warehouse, which has 60,000 tons of cold-storage
capacity, could increase container throughout at Qingdao Port by
500,000 20-foot boxes, according to media reports citing Qingdao
Port Group President Chang Dechuan.
The partners are expected to launch another cold-storage
facility with the same capacity in the first half of next year.
Qingdao Port is China's largest refrigerated container port. Its
refrigerated throughput totals 393,000 containers.
The project is Eimskip's first cold-storage investment in Asia.
Under the agreement between the two entities, Qingdao Port Group
will lease the cold storage to Eimskip and later sell it to the
Reykjavik-based company.
Companies are investing in cold-chain logistics in China to tap
the booming export demand for temperature-controlled cargo such as
seafood, meat and vegetables. For instance, China's Sinotrans late
last year started construction of a 250-million-yuan (US$33.3
million) cold logistics center, which includes a warehouse, loading
dock and refrigerated vehicles, in Shanghai.
Qingdao is on the fast track in developing its fish processing
industry.
The Qingdao Port reported total freight turnover of more than
200 million tons and container throughput of seven million units in
the first nine months of the year.
The port aims to achieve total freight turnover of 260 million
tons and container turnover of nine million units this year.
(Shanghai Daily October 8, 2007)
