Royal Cargo opens Bulacan cold chain facility

ROYAL CARGO, Inc. has opened its fourth and largest cold chain hub along the Plaridel Bypass Road in Bulacan in a bid to service locations further in the north.

The 6.6- hectare property is intended to function as a cross docking facility as opposed to a storage-only design to facilitate a faster turnover of goods, Royal Cargo President Elmer Francisco U. Sarmiento told reporters after the inauguration of the new building on Wednesday.

“We are after the velocity of cargos in moving in and out. So most of our friends in the industry, in the cold storage, their structure is basically as a cold storage where you store goods. Here, we are not after the storage of goods. We are after the cross docking of goods,” he said.

Royal Cargo’s north hub has 18 loading bays, two of which are halal loading bays. It also houses a 2,760- square meter cold chain unit, a 1.7- hectare container freight station and an 8,000- square meter dry warehouse.

Aside from Bulacan, the cargo company also operates two cold chain facilities in Biñan, Laguna and one in Dasmariñas, Cavite.

“We are located in proximity to the Batangas port. We also have a facility in Cavite, also cold storage. And now, we have the complement of that strategic complement in the north,” Royal Cargo Group Chief Executive Officer Michael K. Raeuber said.

He added that they are banking on the continued infrastructure developments in the area, including the nearby roads linking it to Fairview, Quezon City, North Luzon Expressway (NLEx), Subic and Clark.

Mr. Raeuber said the firm is expecting a return of capital from the P2-billion north hub in about six years. But Mr. Sarmiento noted the investment has doubled the company ’ s capacity from a combined 15,000 in three old cold chain businesses to an additional 15,000 from the new facility alone.

Aside from its cold chain unit, Royal Cargo is also looking to open a 9,000- square meter covered warehouse in Cordova, Cebu. It is also eyeing expansion in Davao, Iloilo and Bacolod.

Mr. Sarmiento said in the future, the company hopes to acquire an individual quick freeze (IQF) equipment to allow for the export of more food products in farther countries, like fresh mangoes, noting there is demand for Philippines mangoes in the United States and Europe, but at present we are unable to export the fruit because it easily rots in transit.

“We’re doing, at this point, some research on the product and the saleability of the product after (ordering an) IQF,” he said. He added, mango businesses are pushing them to make the purchase already, but they are still considering the return of investments because one IQF unit costs around $350,000 to $400,000.