Dutch fresh produce marketer The Greenery has officially opened its new soft fruit distribution centre in Breda.
The new facility, which is equipped with state-of-the-art packing and distribution technology, was inaugurated by the company’s chief executive Steven Martina, the Mayor of Breda Paul Depla and strawberry grower Ad Boeren during a special ceremony also attended by producers, customers and employees.
“Let’s be proud of our region’s red gold,” Depla commented at the event. “Breda was always known as the sugar town, and nowadays we are big in healthy ‘candy’ like strawberries and other berries.”
The new distribution centre has been built on a 13,400m2 site adjacent to The Greenery’s previous facility in Breda’s International Agro Business Centre area.
Martina said he was “very proud and happy with the new building and its new, ultra-modern packing lines”, which would enable the company to centralise its soft fruit business and supply customers from one hub.
The centre, which includes a climate-controlled area covering 8,200m2 as well as 23 loading bays and nine coldstorage rooms, will apparently enable the group to reduce the number of times product is moved, simplifying the distribution process and related costs.
The redevelopment of The Greenery’s storage and distribution network is part of a wider reorganisation across the whole group, and crucially involves the marketer selling off DCs to Belgian logistics specialist WDP and leasing them back.
The Greenery plans to occupy the Breda facility, as well as a second new one due to be completed in Barendrecht in late 2018, on a long-term basis.
Last year, WDP revealed it was investing a total of around €47 million over the next two years to develop and expand distribution facilities purchased recently from The Greenery.
