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Food Hub to feed Rotterdam export appetite

[ May 1, 2019   //   ]

The port of Rotterdam is to set up a 60-hectare Food Hub at Calandkanaal, at the entrance to Maasvlakte. Construction on the ‘Kop van de Beer’ (Head of the Bear) site will start in July and it is envisaged that the first sites will be ready for occupation by the end of 2020.

Around 45 hectares are currently available for development with discussions already ongoing with candidates for about 35 hectares. Preparatory works such as soil surveys have already been carried out and construction of a temporary road and utilities will start from June.

The Netherlands is the world’s second-largest agri exporter, after the US, with almost €92 billion traded in 2017. The port’s director of containers, breakbulk and logistics, Emile Hoogsteden, explained: “The Rotterdam Food Hub offers excellent opportunities for this: not only are Maasvlakte’s large deep-sea container terminals just a stone’s throw away, but the Rotterdam Food hub will also have access to multiple berths for sea-going vessels especially equipped for refrigerated cargo.”

Berths for inland vessels will also be available and warehouses will be located immediately adjacent to the quays to enable refrigerated and frozen cargo to be stored, processed or transported quickly.

The Rotterdam Food Hub also offers shared facilities for transport, storage, access control and customs can be shared efficiently. Hoogsteden described the Food Hub as: “An extremely welcome addition to the agrofood hotspots that already exist in the Port of Rotterdam, such as Cool Port and the large cold storage warehouses including at Maasvlakte and Eemhaven.”

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