Cold Xpress expanding operations with sustainable warehouse
Melbourne cold storage and transport company, Cold Xpress, is currently in the process of expanding its operations, and through this, bringing sustainable cold storage solutions to its clients.
Located in Rowville, the new facility is being built in an existing 8000 sqm warehouse and ultimately will be a 12,000-pallet position cold storage facility.
Cold storage can require a large amount of electricity. Projects like this are not often associated with sustainable logistics, but Cold Xpress is willing to ensure it is.
The cornerstone to the new facility is using the warehouse’s ample roof space for solar power, enabling it to run completely on renewable energy during the day, with an at-night-battery solution soon available.
Cold Xpress has also opted for modern Co2 based refrigeration units. Although Co2 is a greenhouse gas, it has been found to be up to 4000 times less harmful than conventional refrigerants like R404.
In the unlikely event a leak occurs, environmental harm is minimised. Co2 refrigeration also requires less energy to run than conventional refrigerants.
Other sustainable aspects of the facility include:
- High quality fire retardant insulated sandwich panels reducing the need for additional refrigeration.
- Use of recycled pallet racking to minimise the carbon footprint created by steel production.
- Retrofit of an existing warehouse, minimising the need and use for new building materials, thereby reducing the carbon footprint of building works.
- Built its own TMS and WMS and is striving to go completely paperless.
To complete this project, Cold Xpress has enlisted builders A1 Precision Solutions. The two have worked together before, and Cold Xpress feels that A1 has the experience to make sure both the project and the new facility operate in a sustainable way.
A1 Precision Solutions has been instrumental in the implementation of many of Cold Xpress’ green initiatives and has found innovative solutions to suit its needs.
For more information on Cold Xpress, click here.
Cold Xpress’ sustainable warehouse is the fourth entry to the MHD Sustainable Warehouse Competition, making it eligible to be nominated for the coveted MHD Sustainable Warehouse Competition Award, which will be handed to one lucky winner at Prime Creative Media’s Mercury Awards dinner gala on Wednesday September 18 — all part of the largest logistics conference in Australia, MEGATRANS.
To learn more about the Mercury Awards, click here.
To learn more about MEGATRANS, click here.
