Coaldale to be home to $222M cold food storage facility

Netherlands-based Newcold is building a $222-million cold food storage facility in Coaldale, creating more than 50 permanent jobs in the southern Alberta town.

Monday's announcement marks the entry into the Canadian market for Newcold, which operates in Europe, the United States and the Asia-pacific region.

Newcold executive Jonas Swarttouw said the automated facility is just under 30,000 square metres — he acknowledged Amazon has bigger warehouses — but is also 45 metres tall, four times the height of a normal warehouse. It will contain advanced equipment such as conveying systems, cranes and elevators that will automatically move around goods.

The food logistics company stores processors' frozen foods, and from the Coaldale warehouse will receive them from their customers' manufacturing facilities and ship them within Canada and to other countries. Those packed frozen foods end up in restaurants and supermarkets.

The facility is expected to be up and running in about a year. Construction will create more than 200 temporary jobs.

“We recognize Alberta's growing importance in North America's food supply chain, with the presence of some of America's largest food processors,” Swarttouw said.

In a statement, Coaldale Mayor Jack Van Rijn welcomed Newcold's investment, which he said continues the trend of the town becoming a major logistics and investment hub within Canada's Premier Food Corridor, a southern Alberta food processing hub that includes the Coaldale, Lethbridge and Taber areas.

The Alberta government announced Monday it is providing a $2-million investment in the facility through its Investment and Growth Fund.