NewCold, The Netherlands, and Fisher Construction Group, Burlington, Wash., broke ground on a building for NewCold’s Tacoma Automated Coldstore, located in proximity to the Port of Tacoma and I-5.

The coldstore will use state-of-the-art technology, including automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS) to automatically move and store products in the ‘dark’ high-bay warehouse. The equipment and operators will be directed by advanced software systems, while products are kept in optimal conditions with all coldstore areas cooled down to sub-zero temperatures.

This advanced cold chain solution ensures that processes are sustainable, traceable, fully integrated with the processes of NewCold’s customers and always at the very forefront of technological developments. It offers a high and consistent logistic service level and is said to be a more sustainable and better food safety alternative to more conventional coldstore solutions.

The futuristic multi-customer coldstore enables food producers, including Trident Seafoods, Seattle, Wash., to optimize their cold chain management, with increased agility and responsiveness to better serve the needs of their domestic and international end customers, 24/7.

“With this ground breaking, NewCold brings to Tacoma, the Pacific Northwest and North America 16 years of leadership in automated cold storage development and operations. Although our roots are in Europe, our heart is with global food producers where ever NewCold can bring value. We could not be more pleased than to stand as partners beside Fisher Construction Co. and our sponsoring customer, Trident Seafoods,” says David Richardson, president and CEO of NewCold. “NewCold highly values trusted partnerships and the partnerships created to realize this efficient giant freezer are very special. Our sincere thanks to the City of Tacoma for their critical support and guidance. Pierce County and the City of Tacoma are full partners, as well. They are easy to work with, and clearly focused on economic growth through leading technologies and we are thrilled to be investing here.”

“We have been investigating the possibilities of optimizing our cold chain with an automated coldstore for a long time,” adds Randy Furtner, chief financial officer of Trident Seafoods. “We went through a rigorous process with NewCold's team to make sure that the coldstore solution fulfills all our needs. NewCold's extensive experience in automated coldstore development and operation have helped us to realize our ambitions. We look forward to working together with NewCold in this generational coldstore project, which will play a pivotal role in our cold chain."

The state-of-the-art freezer is a joint design effort and construction by NewCold and Fisher Construction. The facility is said to be one of the largest in the United States, with a storage capacity of over 25 million cubic feet.

“Fisher is excited to partner with NewCold on this facility, their first in North America” says Dan Powers, president and CEO of Fisher Construction Group. “The unique method used to build this facility and the technologies incorporated within [the] facility are the way of the future, and we’re pleased to team with them and their storage partners to make it a reality.”

Leading-edge technologies used in addition to the automated pallet retrieval systems will hold the pallets of products, the low-oxygen environment reducing the risk of fire from the inside and the total building design needing only half the energy consumed by conventional cold stores to keep the products optimally frozen.