Both facilities will consist of cold storage (2-8⁰) and ambient (15-25⁰) zones.
“We notice the requirement, by all our customers, to have both storage possibilities (ambient and cold). So when we expand, we need to expand in both,” said Yusen Logistics (YL) Director of Contract Logistics, Hugo Van Herck.
Van Herck told Outsourcing-Pharma the new facilities will have the capacity to store both Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and finished products, including narcotics.
The project includes the construction of a 8,000 sq.meter adjoining warehouse at its Melsele facility near Antwerp, Belgium, and a new, 11,225 sq.meter facility near Roosendaal in the Netherlands.
“The enlarged capabilities will also create new jobs” said Van Herck.
The current Melsele facility, a 18,000 sq.meter warehouse including 1,500 cold store pallet positions, serves as the company’s central European hub. The expansion, to be operated by the existing team, will be open for business by the end of 2017.
The Roosendaal facility was planned in response to an increased demand for pharmaceutical and healthcare industry storage needs in the region. “Recently, an existing customer requested YL to set up a high-qualified pharma logistics operation in the Netherlands, and this was the trigger for YL to take the next step” said Van Herck. The Roosendaal depot will be open for business early 2018.
The warehouses, which represent an investment of more than €10m ($10.8m) investment, will be built by development companies and leased to YL.